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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36288-8.txt b/36288-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ac5284 --- /dev/null +++ b/36288-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9276 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Plurality of Worlds, by +William Whewell and Edward Hitchcock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Plurality of Worlds + +Author: William Whewell + Edward Hitchcock + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [EBook #36288] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen H. Sentoff and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + +[Illustration: 51 Messier; 99 Messier] + + + + + THE + PLURALITY OF WORLDS. + + On Nature's Alps I stand, + And see a thousand firmaments beneath! + A thousand systems, as a thousand grains! + So much a stranger, _and so late arrived_, + How shall man's curious spirit not inquire + What are the natives of this world sublime, + Of this so distant, unterrestrial sphere, + Where mortal, untranslated, never strayed? + + NIGHT THOUGHTS. + + WITH AN INTRODUCTION + BY + EDWARD HITCHCOCK, D.D., + + PRESIDENT OF AMHERST COLLEGE, AND PROFESSOR OF + THEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY. + + BOSTON: + GOULD AND LINCOLN, + 50 WASHINGTON STREET. + + 1854. + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by + GOULD AND LINCOLN, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of + the District of Massachusetts. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Although the opinions presented in the following Essay are put forwards +without claiming for them any value beyond what they may derive from the +arguments there offered, they are not published without some fear of +giving offence. It will be a curious, but not a very wonderful event, if +it should now be deemed as blamable to doubt the existence of +inhabitants of the Planets and Stars, as, three centuries ago, it was +held heretical to teach that doctrine. Yet probably there are many who +will be willing to see the question examined by all the light which +modern science can throw upon it; and such an examination can be +undertaken to no purpose, except the view which has of late been +generally rejected have the arguments in its favor fairly stated and +candidly considered. + +Though Revealed Religion contains no doctrine relative to the +inhabitants of planets and stars; and though, till within the last three +centuries, no Christian thinker deemed such a doctrine to be required, +in order to complete our view of the attributes of the Creator; yet it +is possible that at the present day, when the assumption of such +inhabitants is very generally made and assented to, many persons have so +mingled this assumption with their religious belief, that they regard it +as an essential part of Natural Religion. If any such persons find their +religious convictions interfered with, and their consolatory impressions +disturbed, by what is said in this Essay, the Author will deeply regret +to have had any share in troubling any current of pious thought +belonging to the time. But, as some excuse, it may be recollected, that +if such considerations had prevailed, this very doctrine, of the +Plurality of Worlds, would never have been publicly maintained. And if +such considerations are to have weight, it must be recollected, on the +other hand, that there are many persons to whom the assumption of an +endless multitude of Worlds appears difficult to reconcile with the +belief of that which, as the Christian Revelation teaches us, has been +done for this our World of Earth. In this conflict of religious +difficulties, on a point which rather belongs to science than to +religion, perhaps philosophical arguments may be patiently listened to, +if urged as arguments merely; and in that hope, they are here stated, +without reserve and without exaggeration. + +All speculations on subjects in which Science and Religion bear upon +each other, are liable to one of the two opposite charges;--that the +speculator sets Philosophy and Religion at variance; or that he warps +Philosophy into a conformity with Religion. It is confidently hoped that +no candid reader will bring either of these charges against the present +Essay. With regard to the latter, the arguments must speak for +themselves. To the Author at least, they appear to be of no small +philosophical force; though he is quite ready to weigh carefully and +candidly any answers which may be offered to them. With regard to the +amount of agreement between our Philosophy and Religion, it may perhaps +be permitted to the Author to say, that while it appears to him that +some of his philosophical conclusions fall in very remarkably with +certain points of religious doctrine, he is well aware that Philosophy +alone can do little in providing man with the consolations, hopes, +supports, and convictions which Religion offers; and he acknowledges it +as a ground of deep gratitude to the Author of all good, that man is +not left to Philosophy for those blessings; but has a fuller assurance +of them, by a more direct communication from Him. + +Perhaps, too, the Author may be allowed to say, that he has tried to +give to the book, not only a moral, but a scientific interest; by +collecting his scientific facts from the best authorities, and the most +recent discoveries. He would flatter himself, in particular, that the +view of the Nebulæ and of the Solar System, which he has here given, may +be not unworthy of some attention on the part of astronomers and +observers, as an occasion of future researches in the skies. + + + + + CONTENTS + OF + THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS. + + + PAGE + + Introduction. 9 + + CHAPTER I. + Astronomical Discoveries. 17 + + CHAPTER II. + Astronomical Objection to Religion. 33 + + CHAPTER III. + The Answer from the Microscope. 41 + + CHAPTER IV. + Further Statement of the Difficulty. 49 + + CHAPTER V. + Geology. 72 + + CHAPTER VI. + The Argument from Geology. 98 + + CHAPTER VII. + The Nebulæ. 135 + + CHAPTER VIII. + The Fixed Stars. 163 + + CHAPTER IX. + The Planets. 192 + + CHAPTER X. + Theory of the Solar System. 219 + + CHAPTER XI. + The Argument from Design. 236 + + CHAPTER XII. + The Unity of the World. 275 + + CHAPTER XIII. + The Future. 292 + + + + + INTRODUCTORY NOTICE + TO THE + AMERICAN EDITION. + + +It is an interesting feature in the literature of our day, that so many +minds are turning their attention to the bearings of science upon +religion. With a few honorable exceptions, Christian scholars have +regarded this as a most unpromising field, which they have left to the +tilting and gladiatorship of scepticism. But we owe it mainly to the +disclosures of geology, that the tables are beginning to be turned. For +a long time suspected of being in league with infidelity, it was treated +as an enemy, and Christians thought only of fortifying themselves +against its attacks. But they are finding out, that if this science has +been seen in the enemy's camp, it was only because of their jealousy +that it was compelled to remain there; like captives that are sometimes +pushed forwards to cover the front rank and receive the fire of their +friends. Judging from the number of works, some of them very able, that +appear almost monthly from the press, in which illustrations of +religion are drawn from geology, we may infer that this science is +beginning to be recognized by the friends of religion as an efficient +auxiliary. + +"The Plurality of Worlds," now republished, is the most recent work of +this description that has fallen under our notice. We can see no reason +why an Essay of so much ability, in which the reasoning is so +dispassionate, and opponents are treated so candidly, should appear +anonymously. True, the author takes ground against some opinions widely +maintained respecting the extent of the inhabited universe, and seems to +suppose that he shall meet with little sympathy; and this may be his +reason, though in our view quite insufficient, for remaining incognito. +We think he will find that there are a secret seven thousand, who never +have bowed their understandings to a belief of many of the doctrines +which he combats, and he might reasonably calculate that his reasoning +will add seven thousand more to the number. We confess, however, that +though we have long been of this number to a certain extent, we cannot +go as far as this writer has done in his conclusions. + +All the world is acquainted with Dr. Chalmers' splendid Astronomical +Discourses. Assuming, or rather supposing that he has proved, that the +universe contains a vast number of worlds peopled like our own, he +imagines the infidel to raise an objection to the mission of the Son of +God, on the ground that this world is too insignificant to receive such +an extraordinary interposition. His replies to this objection, drawn +chiefly from our ignorance, are ingenious and convincing. But the author +of the Plurality of Worlds doubts the premises on which the objection is +founded. He thinks the facts of science will not sustain the conclusion +that many of the heavenly bodies are inhabited; certainly not with moral +and intellectual beings like man. Nay, by making his appeal to geology, +he thinks the evidence strong against such an opinion. This science +shows us that this world was once certainly in a molten state, and very +probably, at a still earlier date, may have been dissipated into +self-luminous vapor, like the nebulæ or the comets. Immense periods, +then, must have passed before any organic structures, such as have since +peopled the earth, could have existed. And during the vast cycles that +have elapsed since the first animals and plants appeared upon the globe, +it was not in a proper condition to have sustained any other than the +inferior races. Accordingly, it has been only a few thousand years since +man appeared. + +Now, so far as astronomy has revealed the condition of other worlds, +almost all of them appear to be passing through those preparatory +changes which the earth underwent previous to man's creation. What are +the unresolvable nebulæ and most of the comets also, but intensely +heated vapor and gas? What is the sun but a molten globe, or perhaps +gaseous matter condensed so as to possess almost the density of water? +The planets beyond Mars, also, (excluding the asteroids,) appear to be +in a liquid condition, but not from heat, and therefore may be composed +of water, or some fluid perhaps lighter than water; or at least be +covered by such fluid. Moreover, so great is their distance from the +sun, that his light and heat could not sustain organic beings such as +exist upon the earth. Of the inferior planets, Mercury is so near the +sun that it would be equally unfit for the residence of such beings. +Mars, Venus, and the Moon, then, appear to be the only worlds known to +us capable of sustaining a population at all analogous to that upon +earth. But of these, the Moon appears to be merely a mass of +extinguished volcanos, with neither water nor atmosphere. It has +proceeded farther in the process of refrigeration than the earth, +because it is smaller; and in its present state, is manifestly unfit for +the residence either of rational or irrational creatures. So that we are +left with only Mars and Venus in the solar system to which the common +arguments in favor of other worlds being inhabited, will apply. + +But are not the fixed stars the suns of other systems? We will thank +those who think so, to read the chapter in this work that treats of the +fixed stars, and we presume they will be satisfied that at least many of +these bodies exhibit characters quite irreconcilable with such an +hypothesis. And if some are not central suns, the presumption that the +rest are, is weakened, and we must wait till a greater perfection of +instruments shall afford us some positive evidence, before we know +whether our solar system is a type of any others. + +Thus far, it seems to us, our author has firm ground, both geological +and astronomical, to stand upon. But he does not stop here. He takes the +position that probably our earth may be the only body in the solar +system, nay in the universe, where an intellectual, moral and immortal +being, like man, has an existence. He makes the "earth the domestic +hearth of the solar system; adjusted between the hot and fiery haze on +one side, and the cold and watery vapor on the other: the only fit +region to be a domestic hearth, a seat of habitation." He says that "it +is quite agreeable to analogy that the solar system should have borne +but one fertile flower. And even if any number of the fixed stars were +also found to be barren flowers of the sky, we need not think the powers +of creation wasted, or frustrated, thrown away, or perverted." He does +not deny that some other worlds may be the abodes of plants and animals +such as peopled this earth during the long ages of preadamic history. +But he regards the creation of man as the great event of our world. He +looks upon the space between man and the highest of the irrational +creatures, as a vast one: for though in physical structure they approach +one another, in intellectual and moral powers they cannot be compared. +He does not think it derogatory to Divine Wisdom to have created and +arranged all the other bodies of the universe to give convenience and +elegance to the abode of such a being; especially since this was to be +the theatre of the work of redemption. + +Now we sympathize strongly in views that give dignity and exaltation to +man, and not at all with that debasing philosophy, so common at this +day, that looks upon him as little more than a somewhat improved orang. +But we cannot admit that man is the only exalted created being to be +found among the vast array of worlds around us. Geology does, indeed, +teach us, that it is no disparagement of Divine Wisdom and benevolence +to make a world--and if one, why not many--the residence of inferior +creatures; nay to leave it without inhabitants through untold ages. But +it also shows us, that when such worlds have passed through these +preparatory changes, rational and immortal beings may be placed upon +them. Nay, does not the history of our world show us that this seems to +be the grand object of such vast periods of preparation. And is it not +incredible, that amid the countless bodies of the universe, a single +globe only, and that a small one, should have reached the condition +adapted to the residence of beings made in the image of God? Of what +possible use to man are those numberless worlds visible only through the +most powerful telescopes? Surely such a view gives us a very narrow idea +of the plans and purposes of Jehovah, and one not sustained in our +opinion by the analogies of science. + +There is another principle to which our author attaches, as we think, +too little importance in this connection. When we see how vast is the +variety of organic beings on this globe, and how manifold the conditions +of their existence; how exactly adapted they are to the solid, the +liquid, and the gaseous states of matter, can we doubt that rational and +intelligent beings may be adapted to physical conditions in other worlds +widely diverse from those on this globe? May not spirits be connected +with bodies much heavier, or much lighter, than on earth; nay, with mere +tenuous ether; and those bodies, perhaps, be better adapted to the play +of intellect than ours; and be unaffected by temperatures which, on +earth, would be fatal? It does seem to us that such conclusions are +legitimate inferences from the facts of science; and if so, we can +hardly avoid the conclusion that there may be races of intelligent +beings upon other worlds where the condition of things is widely +different from that on earth. Yet there is a limit to this principle; +and when we can prove another world to be in a similar condition to our +earth, when it was inhabited by preadamic races, or not at all +inhabited, the presumption is strong, that such a world has inhabitants +of a like character, or none at all. + +Our author makes but a slight allusion to some most important statements +of revelation, that seem to us to bear strongly upon the hypothesis +which he adopts. We refer to the existence of angels, holy and unholy. +In the history of the latter, we learn that _they kept not their first +estate, but left their own habitation_. Have we not here an example of +other rational creatures, more exalted than man, who, like him, have +fallen from their first estate; and does not the presumption hence +arise, that there may be similar examples in other worlds? And is there +not a probability, that holy angels now in heaven, may be rational +intelligences who have passed a successful probation in other worlds? It +does seem to us, that these biblical facts make the hypothesis of our +author respecting man extremely improbable. + +But though we must demur as to some of the views of this work, we can +cordially recommend its perusal to intelligent and reasoning minds. It +is an effort in the right direction, and we think will do much to +correct some false notions respecting the Plurality of Worlds. And even +the author's peculiar hypothetical views are sustained with much +ability. He states the facts of geology and astronomy with great +clearness and correctness, and seems quite familiar with mathematical +reasoning. Nor does he advance opinions that come into collision with +natural or revealed religion; though, as already stated, we think his +favorite notions narrow our conceptions of the Divine plans and +purposes. We predict for the work an extended circulation among +scientific men and theologians; and commend it with confidence to all +readers--and in our country they are numerous--who are fond of tracing +out the connection between science and religion. + + E. H. + Amherst College, April, 1854. + + + + +THE +PLURALITY OF WORLDS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES. + + +"When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the +stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of +him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" + +1. These striking words of the Hebrew Psalmist have been made, by an +eloquent and pious writer of our own time, the starting point of a +remarkable train of speculation. Dr. Chalmers, in his _Astronomical +Discourses_, has treated the reflection thus suggested, in connection +with such an aspect of the heavens and the stars, the earth and the +universe, as modern astronomy presents to us. Even from the point of +view in which the ancient Hebrew looked at the stars; seeing only their +number and splendor, their lofty position, and the vast space which they +visibly occupy in the sky; compared with the earth, which lies dark, and +mean, and perhaps small in extent, far beneath them, and on which man +has his habitation; it appeared wonderful, and scarcely credible, that +the maker of all that array of luminaries, the lord of that wide and +magnificent domain, should occupy himself with the concerns of men: and +yet, without a belief in His fatherly care and goodness to us, +thoughtful and religious persons, accustomed to turn their minds +constantly to a Supreme Governor and constant Benefactor, are left in a +desolate and bewildered state of feeling. The notion that while the +heavens are the work of God's fingers, the sun, moon, and stars ordained +by him, He is _not_ mindful of man, does not regard him, does not visit +him, was not tolerable to the thought of the Psalmist. While we read, we +are sure that he believed that, however insignificant and mean man might +be, in comparison with the other works of God,--however difficult it +might seem to conceive, that he should be found worthy the regards and +the visits of the Creator of All,--yet that God _was_ mindful of him, +and _did_ visit him. The question, "What is man, that this is so?" +implies that there is an answer, whether man can discover it or not. +"_What_ is man, that God is mindful of him?" indicates a belief, +unshaken, however much perplexed, that man is _something_, of such a +kind that God _is_ mindful of him. + +2. But if there was room for this questioning, and cause for this +perplexity, to a contemplative person, who looked at the skies, with +that belief concerning the stars, which the ancient Hebrew possessed, +the question recurs with far greater force, and the perplexity is +immeasurably increased, by the knowledge, concerning the stars, which is +given to us by the discoveries of modern astronomy. The Jew probably +believed the earth to be a region, upon the whole, level, however +diversified with hills and valleys, and the skies to be a vault arched +over this level;--a firmament in which the moon and the stars were +placed. What magnitude to assign to this vault, he had no means of +knowing; and indeed, the very aspect of the nocturnal heavens, with the +multitude of stars, of various brightness, which come into view, one set +after another, as the light of day dies away, suggests rather the notion +of their being scattered through a vast depth of space, at various +distances, than of their being so many lights fastened to a single +vaulted surface. But however he might judge of this, he regarded them as +placed in a space, of which the earth was the central region. The host +of heaven all had reference to the earth. The sun and the moon were +there, in order to give light to it, by day and by night. And if the +stars had not that for their principal office, as indeed the amount of +light which they gave was not such as to encourage such a belief,--and +perhaps the perception, that the stars must have been created for some +other object than to give light to man, was one of the principal +circumstances which suggested the train of thought that we are now +considering;--yet still, the region of the stars had the earth for its +centre and base. Perhaps the Psalmist, at a subsequent period of his +contemplations, when he was pondering the reflections which he has +expressed in this passage, might have been led to think that the stars +were placed there in order to draw man's thoughts to the greatness of +the Creator of all things; to give some light to his mental, rather than +to his bodily eye; to show how far His mode of working transcends man's +faculties; to suggest that there are things in heaven, very different +from the things which are on earth. If he thought thus, he was only +following a train of thought on which contemplative minds, in all ages +and countries, have often dwelt; and which we cannot, even now, +pronounce to be either unfounded or exhausted; as we trust hereafter to +show. But whether or not this be so, we may be certain that the Psalmist +regarded the stars, as things having a reference to the earth, and yet +not resembling the earth; as works of God's fingers, very different from +the earth with its tribes of inhabitants; as luminaries, not worlds. In +the feeling of awe and perplexity, which made him ask, "What is man that +thou art mindful of him?" there was no mixture of a persuasion that +there were, in those luminaries, creatures, like man, the children and +subjects of God; and therefore, like man, requiring his care and +attention. In asking, "What is man, that thou visitest him?" there was +no latent comparison, to make the question imply, "that thou visitest +_him_, rather than those who dwell in those abodes?" It was the +multitude and magnificence of God's works, which made it seem strange +that he should care for a _thing_ so small and mean as man; not the +supposed multitude of God's intelligent creatures inhabiting those +works, which made it seem strange that he should attend to every +_person_ upon this earth. It was not that the Psalmist thought that, +among a multitude of earths, all peopled like this earth, man might seem +to be in danger of being overlooked and neglected by his Maker; but +that, there being only one earth, occupied by frail, feeble, sinful, +short-lived creatures, it might be unworthy the regards of Him who dwelt +in regions of eternal light and splendor, unsullied by frailty, +inaccessible to corruption. + +3. This, we can have no doubt, or something resembling this, was the +Psalmist's view, when he made the reflection, which we have taken as the +basis of our remarks. And even in this view, (which, after all that +science has done, is perhaps still the most natural and familiar,) the +reflection is extremely striking; and the words cannot be uttered +without finding an echo in the breast of every contemplative and +religious person. But this view is, as most readers at this time are +aware, very different from that presented to us by Modern Astronomy. The +discoveries made by astronomers are supposed by most persons to have +proved, or to have made it in the highest degree probable, that this +view of the earth, as the sole habitation of intelligent subjects of +God's government; and of the stars, as placed in a region of which the +earth is the centre, and yet differing in their nature from this lower +world; is altogether erroneous. According to astronomers, the earth is +not a level space, but a globe. Some of the stars which we see in the +vault of heaven, are globes, like it; some smaller than the earth, some +larger. There are reasons, drawn from analogy, for believing that these +globes, the other planets, are inhabited by living creatures, as the +earth is. The earth is not at rest, with the celestial luminaries +circulating above it, as the ancients believed, but itself moves in a +circle about the sun, in the course of every year; and the other planets +also move round the sun in like manner, in circles, some within and some +without that which the earth describes. This collection of planets, thus +circulating about the sun, is the SOLAR SYSTEM: of which the earth thus +forms a very small part. Jupiter and Saturn are much larger than the +earth. Mars and Venus are nearly as large. If these be inhabited, as the +Earth is, which the analogy of their form, movements and conditions, +seems to suggest, the population of the earth is a very small portion of +the population of the solar system. And if the mere number of the +subjects of God's government could produce any difficulty in the +application of his providence to them, a person to whom this view of the +world which we inhabit had been disclosed, might well, and with far more +reason than the Psalmist, exclaim, "Lord, what is man, that thou art +mindful of him? the inhabitants of this Earth, that thou regardest him?" + +4. But this is only the first step in the asserted revelations of +astronomy. Some of the stars are, as we have said, planets of the kind +just described. But these stars are a few only:--five, or at most six, +of those visible to the unassisted eye of man. All the rest, innumerable +as they appear, and numerous as they really are, are, it is found, +objects of another kind. They are not, as the planets are, opaque +globes, deriving their light from a sun, about which they circulate. +They shine by a light of their own. They are of the nature of the sun, +not of the planets. That they appear mere specks of light, arises from +their being at a vast distance from us. At a vast distance they +undoubtedly are; for even with our most powerful telescopes, they still +appear mere specks of light;--mere luminous points. They do not, as the +planets do, when seen through telescopes, exhibit to us a circular face +or disk, capable of being magnified and distinguished into parts and +features. But this impossibility of magnifying them by means of +telescopes, does not at all make us doubt that they may be far larger +than the planets. For we know, from other sources of information, that +their distance is immensely greater than that of any of the planets. We +can measure the bodies of the solar system;--the earth, by absolutely +going round a part of it, or in other ways; the other bodies of the +system, by comparing their positions, as seen from different parts of +the earth. In this manner we find that the earth is a globe 8,000 miles +in diameter. In this way, again, we find that the circle which the earth +describes round the sun has, in round numbers, a radius about 24,000 +times the earth's radius; that is, nearly a hundred millions of miles. +The earth is, at one time, a hundred millions of miles on one side of +the sun; and at another time, half a year afterwards, a hundred millions +of miles on the other side. Of the bright stars which shine by their own +light,--the _fixed stars_, as we call them, (to distinguish them from +the planets, the _wandering stars_,)--if any one were at any moderate +distance from us, we should see it change its apparent place with regard +to the others, in consequence of our thus changing our point of view two +hundred millions of miles: just as a distant spire changes its apparent +place with regard to the more distant mountain, when we move from one +window of our house to the other. But no such change of place is +discernible in any of the fixed stars: or at least, if we believe the +most recent asserted discoveries of astronomers, the change is so small +as to imply a distance in the star, of more than two hundred thousand +times the radius of the earth's orbit, which is, itself, as we have +said, one hundred millions of miles.[1] This distance is so vastly +great, that we can very well believe that the fixed stars, though to our +best telescopes they appear only as points of light, are really as large +as our sun, and would give as much light as he does, if we could +approach as near to them. For since they are thus, the nearest of them, +two hundred thousand times as far off as he is, even if we could magnify +them a thousand times, which we can hardly do, they would still be only +one two-hundredth of the breadth of the sun; and thus, still a mere +point. + +5. But if each fixed star be of the nature of the sun, and not smaller +than the sun, does not analogy lead us to suppose that they have, some +of them at least, planets circulating about them, as our sun has? If the +Sun is the centre of the Solar System, why should not Sirius, (one of +the brightest of the fixed stars,) be the centre of the _Sirian System_? +And why should not that system have as many planets, with the same +resemblances and differences of the figure, movements, and conditions of +the different planets, as this? Why should not the Sirian System be as +great and as varied as the solar system? And this being granted, why +should not these planets be inhabited, as men have inferred the other +planets of the solar system, as well as the earth, to be? And thus we +have, added to the population of the universe of which we have already +spoken, a number (so far as we have reason to believe) not inferior to +the number of inhabitants of the solar system: this number being, +according to all the analogies, very many fold that of the population of +the whole earth? + +And this is the conclusion, when we reason from one star only, from +Sirius. But the argument is the same, from each of the stars. For we +have no reason to think that Sirius, though one of the brightest, is +more like our sun than any of the others is. The others appear less +bright in various degrees, probably because they are further removed +from us in various degrees. They may not be all of the same size and +brightness; it is very unlikely that they are. But they may as easily be +larger than the sun, as smaller. The natural assumption for us to make, +having no ground for any other opinion, is, that they are, upon the +average, of the size of our sun. On that assumption, we have as many +solar systems as we have fixed stars; and, it may be, six or ten, or +twenty times as many inhabited globes; inhabited by creatures of whom +we must suppose, by analogy, that God is mindful, if he is mindful of +us. The question recurs with overwhelming force, if we still follow the +same train of reflection: "What is man, that God is mindful of him?" + +6. But we have not yet exhausted the views which thus add to the force +of this reflection. The fixed stars, which appear to the eye so +numerous, so innumerable, in the clear sky on a moonless night, are not +really so numerous as they seem. To the naked eye, there are not visible +more than four or five thousand. The astronomers of Greece, and of other +countries, even in ancient times, counted them, mapped them, and gave +them names and designations. But Astronomy, who thus began her career by +diminishing, in some degree, the supposed numbers of the host of heaven, +has ended by immeasurably increasing them. The first application of the +telescope to the skies discovered a vast number of fixed stars, +previously unseen: and every improvement in that instrument has +disclosed myriads of new stars, visibly smaller than those which had +before been seen; and smaller and smaller, as the power of vision is +more and more strengthened by new aids from art; as if the regions of +space contained an inexhaustible supply of such objects; as if infinite +space were strewn with stars in every part of it to which vision could +reach. The small patch of the sky which forms, at any moment, the field +of view of one of the great telescopes of Herschel, discloses to him as +many stars, and those of as many different magnitudes, as the whole +vault of the sky exhibits to the naked eye. But the magnifying power of +such an instrument only discloses, it does not make, these stars. There +appears to be quite as much reason to believe, that each of these +telescopic stars is a sun, surrounded by its special family of planets, +as to believe that Sirius or Arcturus is so. Here, then, we have again +an extension, indefinite to our apprehension, of the universe, as +occupied by material structures; and if so, why not by a living +population, such as the material structures which are nearest to us +support? + +7. Even yet we have not finished the series of successive views which +astronomers have had opened to them, extending more and more their +spectacle of the fulness and largeness of the universe. Not only does +the telescope disclose myriads of stars, unseen to the naked eye, and +new myriads with each increase of the powers of the instrument; but it +discloses also patches of light, which, at first at least, do not appear +to consist of stars: _Nebulæ_, as they are called; bright specks, it +might seem, of stellar matter, thin, diffused, and irregular; not +gathered into regular and definite forms, such as we may suppose the +stars to be. Every one who has noticed the starry skies, may understand +what is the general aspect of such nebulæ, by looking at the milky way +or galaxy, an irregular band of nebulous light, which runs quite round +the sky; "A circling zone, powdered with stars;" as Milton calls it. But +the nebulæ of which I more especially speak, are minute patches, +discovered mainly by the telescope, and in a few instances only +discernible by the naked eye. And what I have to remark especially +concerning them at present is, that though to visual powers which barely +suffice to discern them, they appear like mere bright clouds, patches of +diffused starry matter; yet that, when examined by visual powers of a +higher order, by more penetrating telescopes, these patches of +continuous feeble light are, in many instances at least, distinguishable +into definite points: they are found, in fact, to be aggregations of +stars; which before appeared as diffused light, only because our +telescopes, though strong enough to reveal to our senses the aggregate +mass of light of the cluster, were not strong enough to enable us to +discern any one of the stars of which the cluster consists. The galaxy, +in this way, may, in almost every part, be _resolved_ into separate +stars; and thus, the multitude of the stars in the region of the sky +occupied by that winding stream of light, is, when examined by a +powerful telescope, inconceivably numerous. + +8. The small telescopic nebulæ are of various forms; some of them may be +in the shape of flat strata, or cakes, as it were, of stars, of small +thickness, compared with the extent of the stratum. Now, if our sun were +one of the individuals of such a stratum, we, looking at the stars of +the stratum from his neighborhood, should see them very numerous and +close in the direction of the edge of the stratum, and comparatively few +and rare in other parts of the sky. We should, in short, see a galaxy +running round the sky, as we see in fact. And hence Sir William Herschel +has inferred, that our sun, with its attendant planets, has its place in +such a stratum; and that it thus belongs to a host of stars which are, +in a certain way, detached from the other nebulæ which we see. Perhaps, +he adds, some of those other nebulæ are beds and masses of stars not +less numerous than those which compose our galaxy, and which occupy a +larger portion of the sky, only because we are immersed in the interior +of the crowd. And thus, a minute speck of nebulous light, discernible +only by a good telescope, may contain not only as many stars as occupy +the sky to ordinary vision, but as many as is the number into which the +most powerful telescope resolves the milky light of the galaxy. And of +such resolvable nebulæ the number which are discovered in the sky is +very great, their forms being of the most various kind; so that many of +them may be, for aught we can tell, more amply stocked with stars than +the galaxy is. And if all the stars, or a large proportion of the +stars, of the galaxy, be suns attended by planets, and these planets +peopled with living creatures, what notion must we form of the +population of the universe, when we have thus to reckon as many galaxies +as there are resolvable nebulæ! the stock of discoverable nebulæ being +as yet unexhausted by the powers of our telescopes; and the possibility +of resolving them into stars being also an operation which has not yet +been pursued to its limit. + +9. For, (and this is the last step which I shall mention in this long +series of ascending steps of multitude apparently infinite,) it now +begins to be suspected that not some nebulæ only, but _all_, are +resolvable into separate stars. When the nebulæ were first carefully +studied, it was supposed that they consisted, as they appeared to +consist, of some diffused and incoherent matter, not of definite and +limited masses. It was conceived that they were not stars, but Stellar +Matter in the course of formation into stars; and it was conceived, +further, that by the gradual concentration of such matter, whirling +round its centre while it concentrated, not only stars, that is, suns, +might be formed, but also systems of planets, circling round these suns; +and thus this _Nebular Hypothesis_, as it has been termed, gave a kind +of theory of the origin and formation of systems, such as the solar +system. But the great telescope which Lord Rosse has constructed, and +which is much more powerful than any optical instrument yet fabricated, +has been directed to many of the nebulæ, whose appearance had given rise +to this theory; and the result has been, in a great number of cases, +that the nebulæ are proved to consist entirely of distinct stars; and +that the diffused nebulous appearance is discovered to have been an +illusion, resulting from the accumulated light of a vast number of small +stars near to each other. In this manner, we are led to regard every +nebula, not as an imperfectly formed star or system, but as a vast +multitude of stars, and, for aught we can tell, of systems; for the +apparent smallness and nearness of these stars are, it is thought, mere +results of the vast distance at which they are placed from us. And thus, +perhaps, all the nebulæ are, what some of them seem certainly to be, so +many vast armies of stars, each of which stars, we have reason to +believe, is of the nature of our sun; and may have, and according to +analogy has, an accompaniment of living creatures, such as our sun has, +certainly on the earth, probably, it is thought, in the other planets. + +10. It is difficult to grasp, in one view, the effect of the successive +steps from number to number, from distance to distance, which we have +thus been measuring over. We may, however, state them again briefly, in +the way of enumeration. + +From our own place on the earth, we pass, in thought, as a first step, +to the whole globe of the Earth; from this, as a second step, to the +Planets, the other globes which compose the Solar System. A third step +carries us to the Fixed Stars, as visible to the naked eye; very +numerous and immensely distant. The transition to the Telescopic Stars +makes a fourth step; and in this, the number and the space are +increased, almost beyond the power of numbers to express how many there +are, and at what distances. But a fifth step:--perhaps all this array of +stars, obvious and telescopic, only make up our Nebula; while the +universe is occupied by other Nebulæ innumerable, so distant that, seen +from them, our nebula, though including, it may be, stars of the 20th +magnitude, which may be 20 times or 2,000 times more remote than Sirius, +would become a telescopic speck, as their nebulæ are to us. + +11. Various images and modes of representation have been employed, in +order to convey to the mind some notion of the dimensions of the scheme +of the universe to which we are thus introduced. Thus, we may reckon +that a cannon-ball, moving with its usual original velocity unabated, +would describe the interval between the sun and the earth in about one +year. And this being so, the same missile would, from what has been +said, occupy more, we know not how much more, than 200,000 years in +going to the nearest fixed star: and perhaps a thousand times as much, +in going to other stars belonging to our group; and then again, 200,000 +times so much, or some number of the like order, in going from one group +to another. When we have advanced a step or two in this mode of +statement, the velocity of the cannon-ball hardly perceptibly affects +the magnitude of the numbers which we have to use. + +And the same nearly is the case if we have recourse to the swiftest +motion with which we are acquainted; that of Light. Light travels, it is +shown by indisputable scientific reasonings, in about eight minutes from +the sun to the earth. Hence we can easily calculate that it would occupy +at least three years to travel as far as Sirius, and probably, three +thousand years, or a much greater number, to reach to the smallest +stars, or to come from them to us. And thus, as Sir W. Herschel +remarked, since light is the only vehicle by which information +concerning these distant bodies is conveyed to us, we do, by seeing +them, receive information, not what they are at this moment, but what +they were, as to visible condition, thousands of years ago. Stars may +have been created when man was created, and yet their light may not have +reached him.[2] Stars may have been extinguished thousands of years +ago, and yet may still be visible to our eyes, by means of the light +which they emitted previous to their extinction, and which has not yet +died away. + +12. So vast then are the distances at which the different bodies of the +universe are distributed; and yet so numerous are those bodies. In the +vastness of their distances, there is, indeed, nothing which need +disturb our minds, or which, after a little reflection, is likely to do +so: for when we have said all that can be said, about the largeness of +these distances, still there is no difficulty in finding room for them. +We necessarily conceive _Space_ as being infinite in its extent: however +much space the heavenly bodies occupy, there is space beyond them: if +they are not there, space is there nevertheless. That the stars and +planets are so far from each other, is an arrangement which prevents +their disturbing each other with their mutual attractions, to any +destructive extent; and is an arrangement which the spacious, the +infinite universe, admits of, without any difficulty. + +13. But we are more especially concerned with the _Numbers_ of the +heavenly bodies. So many planets about our sun: so many suns, each +perhaps with its family of planets: and then, all these suns making but +one group: and other groups coming into view, one after another, in +seemingly endless succession: and all these planets being of the nature +of our earth, as all these stars are of the nature of our sun:--all +this, presents to us a spectacle of a world--of a countless host of +worlds--of which, when we regard them as thus arranged in planetary +systems, and as having, according to all probability, years and seasons, +days and nights, as we have, we cannot but accept it as at least a +likely suggestion, that they have also inhabitants;--intelligent beings +who can reckon these days and years; who subsist on the fruits which +the season brings forth, and have their daily and yearly occupations, +according to their faculties. When we take, as our scheme of the +universe, such a scheme as this, we may well be overwhelmed with the +number of provinces, besides that in which man dwells, which the empire +of the Lord of all includes; and, recurring to the words of the +Psalmist, we may say with a profundity of meaning immeasurably +augmented--"Lord, what is man?" + +It was this view, I conceive, which Dr. Chalmers had in his thoughts, in +pursuing the speculations which I have mentioned, in the outset of this +Essay. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] It is quite to our purpose to recollect the impression which such +discoveries naturally make upon a pious mind. + + Oh! rack me not to such extent, + These distances belong to Thee; + The world's too little for Thy tent, + A grave too big for me! + GEORGE HERBERT. + +[2] This thought is, however, older. Young expresses it in his _Night +Thoughts_, Night IX., (published in 1744): + + How distant some of these nocturnal suns! + So distant (says the sage) 'twere not absurd + To doubt if beams, set out at nature's birth, + Are yet arrived at this so foreign world. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTION TO RELIGION. + + +1. Such astronomical views, then, as those just stated, we may suppose +to be those to which Chalmers had reference, in the argument of his +_Astronomical Discourses_. These real or supposed discoveries of +astronomers, or a considerable part of them, were the facts which were +present to his mind, and of which he there discusses the bearings upon +religious truths. This multiplicity of systems and worlds, which the +telescopic scrutiny of the stars is assumed to have disclosed, or to +have made probable, is the main feature in the constitution of the +universe, as revealed by science, to which his reflections are directed. +Nor can we say that, in fixing upon this view, he has gone out of his +way, to struggle with obscure and latent difficulties, such as the bulk +of mankind know and care little about. For in reality, such views are +generally diffused in our time and country, are common to all classes of +readers, and as we may venture to express it, are the _popular_ views of +persons of any degree of intellectual culture, who have, directly or +derivatively, accepted the doctrines of modern science. Among such +persons, expressions which imply that the stars are globes of luminous +matter, like the sun; that there are, among them, systems of revolving +bodies, seats of life and of intelligence; are so frequent and +familiar, that those who so speak, do not seem to be aware that, in +using such expressions, they are making any assumption at all; any more +than they suppose themselves to be making assumptions, when they speak +of the globular form of the earth, or of its motion round the sun, or of +its revolution on its axis. It was, therefore, a suitable and laudable +purpose, for a writer like Chalmers, well instructed in science, of +large and comprehensive views with regard both to religion and to +philosophy, of deep and pervasive piety, and master of a dignified and +persuasive eloquence, to employ himself in correcting any erroneous +opinions and impressions respecting the bearing which such scientific +doctrines have upon religious truth. It was his lot to labor among men +of great intellectual curiosity, acuteness, and boldness: it was his +tendency to deal with new views of others on the most various subjects, +religious, philosophical, and social; and, on such subjects, to +originate new views of his own. It fell especially within his province, +therefore, to satisfy the minds of the public who listened to him, with +regard to the conflict, if a conflict there was, or seemed to be, +between new scientific doctrines, and permanent religious verities. He +was, by his culture and his powers, peculiarly fitted, and therefore +peculiarly called, to mediate between the scientific and the religious +world of his time. + +2. The scientific doctrine which he especially deals with, in the work +to which I refer, is the multiplicity of worlds;--the existence of many +seats of life, of enjoyment, of intelligence; and it may be, as he +suggests also, of moral law, of transgression, of alienation from God, +and of the need, and of the means, of reconciliation to Him; or of +obedience to Him and sympathy with Him. That if there be many worlds +resembling our world in other respects, they may resemble it in some of +these, is an obvious, and we may say, an irresistible conjecture, in any +speculative mind to which the doctrine itself has been conveyed. Nor can +it fail to be very interesting, to see how such a writer as I have +described deals with such a suggestion; how far he accepts or inclines +to accept it; and if so, what aspect such a view leads him to give to +truths, either belonging to Natural or to Revealed Theology, which, +before the introduction of such a view, were regarded as bearing only +upon the world of which man is the inhabitant. + +3. The mode in which Chalmers treats this suggestion, is to regard it as +the ground of an objection to Religion, either Natural or Revealed. He +supposes an objector to take his stand upon the multiplicity of worlds, +assumed or granted as true; and to argue that, since there are so many +worlds beside this, all alike claiming the care, the government, the +goodness, the interposition, of the Creator, it is in the highest degree +extravagant and absurd, to suppose that he has done, for this world, +that which Religion, both Natural and Revealed, represents him as having +done, and as doing. When we are told that God has provided, and is +constantly providing, for the life, the welfare, the comfort of all the +living things which people this earth, we can, by an effort of thought +and reflection, bring ourselves to believe that it is so. When we are +further told that He has given a moral law to man, the intelligent +inhabitant of the earth, and governs him by a moral government, we are +able, or at least the great bulk of thoughtful men, on due consideration +of all the bearings of the case, are able, to accept the conviction, +that this also is so. When we are still farther asked to believe that +the imperfect sway of this moral law over man has required to be +remedied by a special interposition of the Governor of the world, or by +a series of special interpositions, to make the Law clear, and to +remedy the effects of man's transgression of it; this doctrine +also,--according to the old and unscientific view, which represents the +human race as, in an especial manner, the summit and crown of God's +material workmanship, the end of the rest of creation, and the selected +theatre of God's dealings with transgression and with obedience,--we can +conceive, and, as religious persons hold, we can find ample and +satisfactory evidence to believe. But if this world be merely one of +innumerable worlds, all, like it, the workmanship of God; all, the seats +of life, like it; others, like it, occupied by intelligent creatures, +capable of will, of law, of obedience, of disobedience, as man is; to +hold that this world has been the scene of God's care and kindness, and +still more, of his special interpositions, communications, and personal +dealings with its individual inhabitants, in the way which Religion +teaches, is, the objector is conceived to maintain, extravagant and +incredible. It is to select one of the millions of globes which are +scattered through the vast domain of space, and to suppose that one to +be treated in a special and exceptional manner, without any reason for +the assumption of such a peculiarity, except that this globe happens to +be the habitation of us, who make this assumption. If Religion require +us to assume, that one particular corner of the Universe has been thus +singled out, and made an exception to the general rules by which all +other parts of the Universe are governed; she makes, it may be said, a +demand upon our credulity which cannot fail to be rejected by those who +are in the habit of contemplating and admiring those general laws. Can +the Earth be thus the centre of the moral and religious universe, when +it has been shown to have no claim to be the centre of the physical +universe? Is it not as absurd to maintain this, as it would be to hold, +at the present day, the old Ptolemaic hypothesis, which places the +Earth in the centre of the heavenly motions, instead of the newer +Copernican doctrine, which teaches that the Earth revolves round the +Sun? Is not Religion disproved, by the necessity under which she lies, +of making such an assumption as this? + +4. Such is, in a general way, the objection to Religion with which +Chalmers deals; and, as I have said, his mode of treating it is highly +interesting and instructive. Perhaps, however, we shall make our +reasonings and speculations apply to a wider class of readers, if we +consider the view now spoken of, not as an objection, urged by an +opponent of religion, but rather as a difficulty, felt by a friend of +religion. It is, I conceive, certain that many of those who are not at +all disposed to argue against religion, but who, on the contrary, feel +that their whole internal comfort and repose are bound up indissolubly +with their religious convictions, are still troubled and dismayed at the +doctrines of the vastness of the universe, and the multitude of worlds, +which they suppose to be taught and proved by astronomy. They have a +profound reverence for the Idea of God; they are glad to acknowledge +their constant and universal dependence upon His preserving power and +goodness; they are ready and desirous to recognize the working of His +providence; they receive the moral law, as His law, with reverence and +submission; they regard their transgressions of this law as sins against +Him; and are eager to find the mode of reconciliation to Him, when thus +estranged from him; they willingly think of God, as near to them. But +while they listen to the evidence which science, as we have said, sets +before them, of the long array of groups, and hosts, and myriads, of +worlds, which are brought to our knowledge, they find themselves +perturbed and distressed. They would willingly think of God as near to +them; but during the progress of this enumeration, He appears, at every +step, to be removed further and further from them. To discover that the +Earth is so large, the number of its inhabitants so great, its form so +different from what man at first imagines it, may perhaps have startled +them; but in this view, there is nothing which a pious mind does not +easily surmount. But if Venus and Mars also have their inhabitants; if +Saturn and Jupiter, globes so much larger than the earth, have a +proportional amount of population; may not man be neglected or +overlooked? Is he worthy to be regarded by the Creator of all? May not, +must not, the most pious mind recur to the exclamation of the Psalmist: +"Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" And must not this +exclamation, under the new aspect of things, be accompanied by an +enfeebled and less confident belief that God _is_ mindful of him? And +then, this array of planets, which derive their light from the Sun, +extends much further than even the astronomer at first suspected. The +orbit of Saturn is ten times as wide as the orbit of the earth; but +beyond Saturn, and almost twice as far from the sun, Herschel discovers +Uranus, another great planet; and again, beyond Uranus, and again at +nearly twice _his_ distance, the subtle sagacity of the astronomers of +our day, surmises, and then detects, another great planet. In such a +system as this, the earth shrinks into insignificance. Can its concerns +engage the attention of him who made the whole? But again, this whole +Solar System itself, with all its orbits and planets, shrinks into a +mere point, when compared with the nearest fixed star. And again, the +distance which lies between us and such stars, shrinks into incalculable +smallness, when we journey in thought to other fixed stars. And again, +and again, the field of our previous contemplation suffers an +immeasurable contraction, as we pass on to other points of view. + +5. And in all these successive moves, we are still within the dominions +of the same Creator and Governor; and at every move, we are brought, we +may suppose, to new bodies of his subjects, bearing, in the expansion of +their number, some proportion to the expanse of space which they occupy. +And if this be so, how shall the earth, and men, its inhabitants, thus +repeatedly annihilated, as it were, by the growing magnitude of the +known Universe, continue to be anything in the regard of Him who +embraces all? Least of all, how shall men continue to receive that +special, persevering, providential, judicial, personal care, which +religion implies; and without the belief of which, any man who has +religious thoughts, must be disturbed and unhappy, desolate and +forsaken? + +6. Such are, I conceive, the thoughts of many persons, under the +influence of the astronomical views which Chalmers refers to as being +sometimes employed against religious belief. Of course, it is natural +that the views which are used by unbelievers as arguments against +religious belief, should create difficulties and troubles in the minds +of believers; at least, till the argument is rebutted. And of course +also, the answers to the arguments, considered as infidel arguments, +would operate to remove the difficulties which believers entertain on +such grounds. Chalmers' reasonings against such arguments, therefore, +will, so for as they are valid, avail to relieve the mental trouble of +believers, who are perplexed and oppressed by the astronomical views of +which I have spoken; as well as to confute and convince those who reject +religion, on such astronomical grounds. It may, however, as I have said, +be of use to deal with these difficulties rather as difficulties of +religious men, than as objections of irreligious men; to examine rather +how we can quiet the troubled and perplexed believer, than how we can +triumph over the dogmatic and self-satisfied infidel. I, at least, +should wish to have the former, rather than the latter of these tasks, +regarded as that which I propose to myself. + +I shall hereafter attempt to explain more fully the difficulties which +the doctrine of the Plurality of Worlds appears to some persons to throw +in the way of Revealed Religion; but before I do so, there is one part +of Chalmers' answer, bearing especially upon Natural Religion, which it +may be proper to attend to. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANSWER FROM THE MICROSCOPE. + + +1. It is not my business, nor my intention, to criticize the remarkable +work of Chalmers to which I have so often referred. But I may say, that +the arguments there employed by him, so far as they go upon astronomical +or philosophical grounds, are of great weight; and upon the whole, such +as we may both assent to, as scientifically true, and accept as +rationally persuasive. I think, however, that there are other arguments, +also drawn from scientific discoveries, which bear, in a very important +and striking manner, upon the opinions in question, and which Chalmers +has not referred to; and I conceive that there are philosophical views +of another kind, which, for those who desire and who will venture to +regard the Universe and its Creator in the wider and deeper relations +which appear to be open to human speculation, may be a source of +satisfaction. When certain positive propositions, maintained as true +while they are really highly doubtful, have given rise to difficulties +in the minds of religious persons, other positive propositions, +combating these, propounded and supported by argument, that they may be +accepted according to their evidence, may, at any rate, have force +enough to break down and dissipate such loosely founded difficulties. To +present to the reader's mind such speculations as I have thus +indicated, is the object of the following pages. They can, of course, +pretend to no charm, except for persons who are willing to have their +minds occupied with such difficulties and such speculations as I have +referred to. Those who are willing to be so employed, may, perhaps, find +in what I have to say something which may interest them. For, of the +arguments which I have to expound, some, though they appear to me both +very obvious and very forcible, have never, so far as I am aware, been +put forth in that religious bearing which seems to belong to them; and +others, though aspiring to point out in some degree the relation of the +Universe and its Creator, are of a very simple kind; that is, for minds +which are prepared to deal with such subjects at all. + +2. As I have said, the arguments with which we are here concerned refer +both to Natural Religion and to Revealed Religion; and there is one of +Chalmers' arguments, bearing especially upon the former branch of the +subject, which I may begin by noticing. Among the thoughts which, it was +stated, might naturally arise in men's minds, when the telescope +revealed to them an innumerable multitude of worlds besides the one +which we inhabit, was this: that the Governor of the Universe, who has +so many worlds under his management, cannot be conceived as bestowing +upon this Earth, and its various tribes of inhabitants, that care which, +till then, Natural Religion had taught men that he does employ, to +secure to man the possession and use of his faculties of mind and body; +and to all animals the requisites of animal existence and animal +enjoyment. And upon this Chalmers remarks, that just about the time when +science gave rise to the suggestion of this difficulty, she also gave +occasion to a remarkable reply to it. Just about the same time that the +invention of the _Telescope_ showed that there were innumerable worlds, +which might have inhabitants requiring the Creator's care as much as the +tribes of this earth do,--the invention of the _Microscope_ showed that +there were, in this world, innumerable tribes of animals, which had been +all along enjoying the benefits of the Creator's care, as much as those +kinds with which man had been familiar from the beginning. The telescope +suggested that there might be dwellers in Jupiter or in Saturn, of giant +size and unknown structure, who must share with us the preserving care +of God. The microscope showed that there had been, close to us, +inhabiting minute crevices and crannies, peopling the leaves of plants, +and the bodies of other animals, animalcules of a minuteness hitherto +unguessed, and of a structure hitherto unknown, who had been always +sharers with us in God's preserving care. The telescope brought into +view worlds as numerous as the drops of water which make up the ocean; +the microscope brought into view a world in almost every drop of water. +Infinity in one direction was balanced by infinity in the other. The +doubts which men might feel as to what God could do, were balanced by +certainties which they discovered, as to what he had always been doing. +His care and goodness could not be supposed to be exhausted by the +hitherto known population of the earth, for it was proved that they had +not hitherto been confined to that population. The discovery of new +worlds at vast distances from us, was accompanied by the discovery of +new worlds close to us, even in the very substances with which we were +best acquainted; and was thus rendered ineffective to disturb the belief +of those who had regarded the world as having God for its governor. + +3. This is a striking reflection, and is put by Chalmers in a very +striking manner; and it is well fitted to remove the scruples to which +it is especially addressed. If there be any persons to whom the +astronomical discoveries which the telescope has brought to light, +suggests doubts or difficulties with regard to such truths of Natural +Religion as God's care for and government of the inhabitants of the +earth, the discoveries of the many various forms of animalcular life +which the microscope has brought to light are well fitted to remove such +doubts, and to solve such difficulties. We may easily believe that the +power of God to sustain and provide for animal life, animal sustenance, +animal enjoyment, can suffice for innumerable worlds besides this, +without being withdrawn or distracted or wearied in this earth; for we +find that it does suffice for innumerable more inhabitants of this earth +than we were before aware of. If we had imagined before, that, in +conceiving God as able and willing to provide for the life and pleasure +of all the sentient beings which we knew to exist upon the earth, we had +formed an adequate notion of his power and of his goodness, these +microscopical discoveries are well adapted to undeceive us. They show us +that all the notions which our knowledge, hitherto, had enabled us to +form of the powers and attributes of the Creator and Preserver of all +living things, are vastly, are immeasurably below the real truth of the +case. They show us that God, as revealed to us in the animal creation, +is the Author and Giver of life, of the organization which life implies, +of the contrivances by which it is conducted and sustained, of the +enjoyment by which it is accompanied,--to an extent infinitely beyond +what the unassisted vision of man could have suggested. The facts which +are obvious to man, from which religious minds in all ages have drawn +their notions and their evidence of the Divine power and goodness, care +and wisdom, in providing for its creatures, require, we find, to be +indefinitely extended, in virtue of the new tribes of minute creatures, +and still new tribes, and still more minute, which we find existing +around us. The views of our Natural Theology must be indefinitely +extended on one side; and therefore we need not be startled or disturbed +at having to extend them indefinitely on the other side;--at having to +believe that there are, in other worlds, creatures whom God has created, +whom he sustains in life, for whom he provides the pleasures of life, as +he does for the long unsuspected creatures of this world. + +4. This is, I say, a reflection which might quiet the mind of a person, +whom astronomical discoveries had led to doubt of the ordinary doctrines +of Natural Religion. But, I think, it may be questioned, whether, to +produce such doubts, is a common or probable effect of an acquaintance +with astronomical discoveries. Undoubtedly, by such discoveries, a +person who believes in God, in his wisdom, power, and goodness, on the +evidence of the natural world, is required to extend and exalt his +conceptions of those Divine Attributes. He had believed God to be the +Author of many forms of life;--he finds him to be the Author of still +more forms of life. He had traced many contrivances in the structure of +animals, for their sustentation and well-being; his new discoveries +disclose to him (for that is undoubtedly among the effects of +microscopic researches) still more nice contrivances. He had seen reason +to think that all sentient beings have their enjoyments; he finds new +fields of enjoyment of the same kind. But in all this, there is little +or nothing to disturb the views and convictions of the Natural +Theologian. He must, even by the evidence of facts patent to ordinary +observation, have been led to believe that the Divine Wisdom and Power +are not only great, but great in a degree which we cannot fathom or +comprehend;--that they are, to our apprehension, infinite: his new +discoveries only confirm the impression of this infinite character of +the Divine Attributes. He had before believed the existence of an +intelligent and wise Creator, on the evidence of the marks of design and +contrivance, which the creation exhibited: of such design and +contrivance he discovers new marks, new examples. He had believed that +God is good, because he found those contrivances invariably had the good +of the creature for their object: he finds, still, that this is the +general, the universal scheme of the creation, now when his view of it +is extended. He has no difficulty in expanding his religious +conceptions, to correspond with his scientific discoveries, so far as +the microscope is the instrument of discovery; there is no reason why he +should have any more difficulty in doing the same, when the telescope is +his informant. It is true, that in this case the information is more +imperfect. It does not tell him, even that there are living inhabitants +in the regions which it reveals; and, consequently, it does not disclose +any of those examples of design which belong to the structure of living +things. But if we suppose, from analogy, that there are living things in +those regions, we have no difficulty in conceiving, from analogy also, +that those living things are constructed with a care and wisdom such as +appear in the inhabitants of earth. It will not readily or commonly +occur to a speculator on such subjects, that there is any source of +perplexity or unbelief, in such an assumption of inhabitants of other +worlds, even if we make the assumption. It is as easy, it may well and +reasonably be thought, for God to create a population for the planets as +to make the planets themselves;--as easy to supply Jupiter with tenants, +as with satellites;--as easy to devise the organization of an inhabitant +of Saturn, as the structure and equilibrium of Saturn's ring. It is no +more difficult for the Universal Creator to extend to those bodies the +powers which operate in organized matter, than the powers which operate +in brute matter. It is as easy for Him to establish circulation and +nutrition in material structures, as cohesion and crystallization, which +we must suppose the planetary masses to possess; or attraction and +inertia, which we know them to possess. No doubt, to our conception, +organization appears to be a step beyond cohesion; circulation of living +fluids, a step beyond crystallization of dead masses:--but then, it is +in tracing such steps, that we discern the peculiar character of the +Creator's agency. He does not merely work with mechanical and chemical +powers, as man to a certain extent can do; but with organic and vital +powers, which man cannot command. The Creator, therefore, can animate +the dust of each planet, as easily as make the dust itself. And when +from organic life we rise to sentient life, we have still only another +step in the known order of Creative Power. To create animals, in any +province of the Universe, cannot be conceived as much more +incomprehensible or incredible, than to create vegetables. No doubt, the +addition of the living and sentient principle to the material, and even +to the organic structure, is a mighty step; and one which may, perhaps, +be made the occasion of some speculative suggestions, in a subsequent +part of this Essay; but still, it is not likely that any one, who had +formed his conceptions of the Divine Mind from its manifestations in the +production and sustentation of animal, as well as vegetable life, on +this earth, would have his belief in the operation of such a Mind, +shaken, by any necessity which might be impressed upon him, of granting +the existence of animal life on other planets, as well as on the earth, +or even on innumerable such planets, and on innumerable systems of +planets and worlds, system above system. + +5. The remark of Chalmers, therefore, to which I have referred, +striking as it is, does not appear to bear directly upon a difficulty of +any great force. If astronomy gives birth to scruples which interfere +with religion, they must be found in some other quarter than in the +possibility of mere animal life existing in other parts of the Universe, +as well as on our earth. That possibility may require us to enlarge our +idea of the Deity, but it has little or no tendency to disturb our +apprehension of his attributes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FURTHER STATEMENT OF THE DIFFICULTY. + + +1. We have attempted to show that if the discoveries made by the +Telescope should excite in any one's mind, difficulties respecting those +doctrines of Natural Religion,--the adequacy of the Creator to the +support and guardianship of all the animal life which may exist in the +universe,--the discoveries of the Microscope may remove such +difficulties; but we have remarked also, that the train of thought which +leads men to dwell upon such difficulties does not seem to be common. + +But what will be the train of thought to which we shall be led, if we +suppose that there are, on other planets, and in other systems, not +animals only, living things, which, however different from the animals +of this earth, are yet in some way analogous to them, according to the +difference of circumstances; but also creatures analogous to +man;--intellectual creatures, living, we must suppose, under a moral +law, responsible for transgression, the subjects of a Providential +Government? If we suppose that, in the other planets of our solar +systems, and of other systems, there are creatures of such a kind, and +under such conditions as these, how far will the religious opinions +which we had previously entertained be disturbed or modified? Will any +new difficulty be introduced into our views of the government of the +world by such a supposition? + +2. I have spoken of man as an Intellectual Creature; meaning thereby +that he has a Mind;--powers of thought, by which he can contemplate the +relations and properties of things in a general and abstract form; and +among other relations, moral relations, the distinction of _right_ and +_wrong_ in his actions. Those powers of thought lead him to think of a +Creator and Ordainer of all things; and his perception of right and +wrong leads him to regard this Creator as also the Governor and Judge of +his creatures. The operation of his mind directs him to believe in a +Supreme Mind: his moral nature directs him to believe that the course of +human affairs, and the condition of men, both as individuals and as +bodies, is determined by the providential government of God. + +3. With regard to the bearing of a merely _intellectual_ nature on such +questions, it does not appear that any considerable difficulty would be +_at once_ occasioned in our religious views, by supposing such a nature +to belong to other creatures, the inhabitants of other planets, as well +as to man. The existence of our own minds directs us, as I have said, to +a Supreme Mind; and the nature of Mind is conceived to be, in all its +manifestations, so much the same, that we can conceive minds to be +multiplied indefinitely, without fear of confusion, interference, or +exhaustion. There may be, in Jupiter, creatures endowed with an +intellect which enables them to discover and demonstrate the relations +of space; and if so, they cannot have discovered and demonstrated +anything of that kind as true, which is not true for us also: their +Geometry must coincide with ours, as far as each goes:--thus showing how +absurdly, as Plato long ago observed, we give to the science which deals +with the relations of space, a name (_geometry_), borrowed from the art +of measuring the earth. The earth with its properties is no more the +special basis of geometry, than are Jupiter or Saturn, or, so far as we +can judge, Sirius or Arcturus and their systems, with their properties. +Wherever pure intellect is, we are compelled to conceive that, when +employed upon the same objects, its results and conclusions are the +same. If there be intelligent inhabitants of the Moon, they may, like +us, have employed their intelligence in reasoning upon the properties of +lines and angles and triangles; and must, so far as they have gone, have +arrived, in their thoughts, at the same properties of lines and angles +and triangles, at which we have arrived. They must, like us, have had to +distinguish between right angles and oblique angles. They may have come +to know, as some of the inhabitants of the earth came to know, four +thousand years ago, that, in a right-angled triangle, the square on the +larger side is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. +We can conceive occurrences which would give us evidence that the Moon, +as well as the Earth, contains geometers. If we were to see, on the face +of the full moon, a figure gradually becoming visible, representing a +right-angled triangle with a square constructed on each of its three +sides as a base; we should regard it as the work of intelligent +creatures there, who might be thus making a signal to the inhabitants of +the earth, that they possessed such knowledge, and were desirous of +making known to their nearest neighbors in the solar system, their +existence and their speculations. In such an event, curious and striking +as it would be, we should see nothing but what we could understand and +accept, without unsettling our belief in the Supreme and Divine +Intelligence. On the contrary, we could hardly fail to receive such a +manifestation as a fresh evidence that the Divine Mind had imparted to +the inhabitants of the Moon, as he has to us, a power of apprehending, +in a very general and abstract form, the relations of that space in +which he performs his works. We should judge, that having been led so +far in their speculations, they must, in all probability, have been led +also to a conception of the Universe, as the field of action of a +universal and Divine Mind; that having thus become geometers, they must +have ascended to the Idea of a God who works by geometry. + +4. But yet, by such a supposition, on further consideration, we find +ourselves introduced to views entirely different from those to which we +are led by the supposition of mere animal life, existing in other worlds +than the earth. For, not to dwell here upon any speculations as to how +far the operations of our minds may resemble the operations of the +Divine Mind;--a subject which we shall hereafter endeavor to +discuss;--we know that the advance to such truths as those of geometry +has been, among the inhabitants of the earth, gradual and progressive. +Though the human mind have had the same powers and faculties, from the +beginning of the existence of the race up to the present time, (as we +cannot but suppose,) the results of the exercise of these powers and +faculties have been very different in different ages; and have gradually +grown up, from small beginnings, to the vast and complex body of +knowledge concerning the scheme and relations of the Universe, which is +at present accessible to the minds of human speculators. It is, as we +have said, probably about four thousand years, since the first steps in +such knowledge were made. Geometry is said to have had its origin in +Egypt; but it assumed its abstract and speculative character first among +the Greeks. Pythagoras is related to have been the first who saw, in the +clear light of demonstration, the property of the right-angled triangle, +of which we have spoken. The Greeks, from the time of Socrates, +stimulated especially by Plato, pursued, with wonderful success, the +investigation of this kind of truths. They saw that such truths had +their application in the heavens, far more extensively than on the +earth. They were enabled, by such speculations, to unravel, in a great +degree, the scheme of the universe, before so seemingly entangled and +perplexed. They determined, to a very considerable extent, the relative +motions of the planets and of the stars. And in modern times, after a +long interval, in which such knowledge was nearly stationary, the +progress again began; and further advances were successively made in +man's knowledge of the scheme and structure of the visible heavens; till +at length the intellect of man was led to those views of the extent of +the Universe and the nature of the stars, which are the basis of the +discussions in which we are now engaged. And thus man, having probably +been, in the earliest ages of the existence of the species, entirely +ignorant of abstract truth, and of the relations which, by the knowledge +of such truth, we can trace in nature, (as the barbarous tribes which +occupy the greater part of the earth's surface still are;) has, by a +long series of progressive steps, come into the possession of knowledge, +which we cannot regard without wonder and admiration; and which seems to +elevate him in no inconsiderable degree, towards a community of thought +with that Divine Mind, into the nature and scheme of whose works he is +thus permitted to penetrate. + +5. Now the knowledge which man is capable, by the nature of his mental +faculties, of acquiring, being thus blank and rudimentary at first, and +only proceeding gradually, by the steps of a progress, numerous, slow, +and often long interrupted, to that stage in which it is the basis of +our present speculations; the view which we have just taken, of the +nature of Intellect, as a faculty always of the same kind, always +uniform in its operations, always consistent in its results, appears to +require reconsideration; and especially with reference to the +application which we made of that view, to the intelligent inhabitants +of other planets and other worlds, if such inhabitants there be. For if +we suppose that there are, in the Moon, or in Jupiter, creatures +possessing intellectual faculties of the same kind as those of man; +capable of apprehending the same abstract and general truths; able, like +man, to attain to a knowledge of the scheme of the Universe; yet this +supposition merely gives the capacity and the ability; and does not +include any security, or even high probability, as it would seem, of the +exercise of such capacity, or of the successful application of such +ability. Even if the surface of the Moon be inhabited by creatures as +intelligent as men, why must we suppose that they know anything more of +the geometry and astronomy, than the great bulk of the less cultured +inhabitants of the earth, who occupy, really, a space far larger than +the surface of the Moon; and, all intelligent though they be, and in the +full possession of mental faculties, are yet, on the subjects of +geometry and astronomy, entirely ignorant;--their minds, as to such a +knowledge, a blank? It does not follow, then, that even if there be such +inhabitants in the Moon, or in the Planets, they have any sympathy with +us, or any community of knowledge on the subjects of which we are now +speaking. The surface of the Moon, or of Jupiter, or of Saturn, even if +well peopled, may be peopled only with tribes as barbarous and ignorant +as Tartars, or Esquimaux, or Australians; and therefore, by making such +a supposition, we do little, even hypothetically, to extend the dominion +of that intelligence, by means of which all intelligent beings have some +community of thought with each other, and some suggestion of the working +of the Divine and Universal Mind. + +6. But, in fact, the view which we have given of the mode of existence +of the human species upon the earth, as being a progressive existence, +even in the development of the intellectual powers and their results, +necessarily fastens down our thoughts and our speculations to the earth, +and makes us feel how visionary and gratuitous it is to assume any +similar kind of existence in any region occupied by other beings than +man. As we have said, we have no insuperable difficulty in conceiving +other parts of the Universe to be tenanted by animals. Animal life +implies no progress in the species. Such as they are in one century, +such are they in another. The conditions of their sustentation and +generation being given, which no difference of physical circumstances +can render incredible, the race may, so far as we can see, go on +forever. But a race which makes a progress in the development of its +faculties cannot thus, or at least cannot with the same ease, be +conceived as existing through all time, and under all circumstances. +Progress implies, or at least suggests, a beginning and an end. If the +mere existence of a race imply a sustaining and preserving power in the +Creator, the progress of a race implies a guiding and impelling power; a +Governor and Director, as well as a Creator and Preserver. And progress, +not merely in material conditions, not merely in the exercise of bodily +faculties, but in the exercise of mental faculties, in the intellectual +condition of a portion of the species, still more implies a special +position and character of the race, which cannot, without great license +of hypothesis, be extended to other races; and which, if so extended, +becomes unmeaning, from the impossibility of our knowing what is +progress in any other species;--from what and towards what it tends. The +intellectual progress of the human species has been a progress in the +use of thought, and in the knowledge which such use procures; it has +been a progress from mere matter to mind; from the impressions of sense +to ideas; from what in knowledge is casual, partial, temporary, to what +is necessary, universal, and eternal. We can conceive no progress, of +the nature of this, which is not identical with this; nothing like it, +which is not the same. And, therefore, if we will people other planets +with creatures, intelligent as man is intelligent, we must not only give +to them the intelligence, but the intellectual history of the human +species. They must have had their minds unfolded by steps similar to +those by which the human mind has been unfolded; or at least, differing +from them only as the intellectual history of one nation of the earth +differs from that of another. They must have had their Pythagoras, their +Plato, their Kepler, their Galileo, their Newton, if they know what we +know. And thus, in order to conceive, on the Moon or on Jupiter, a race +of beings intelligent like man, we must conceive, there, colonies of +men, with histories resembling more or less the histories of human +colonies; and indeed resembling the history of those nations whose +knowledge we inherit, far more closely than the history of any other +terrestrial nation resembles that part of terrestrial history. If we do +this, we exercise an act of invention and imagination which may be as +coherent as a fairy tale, but which, without further proof, must be as +purely imaginary and arbitrary. But if we do not do this, we cannot +conceive that those regions are occupied at all by intelligent beings. +Intelligence, as we see in the human race, in order to have those +characters which concern our argument, implies a history of intellectual +development; and to assume arbitrarily a history of intellectual +development for the inhabitants of a remote planet, as a ground of +reasoning either for or against Religion, is a proceeding which we can +hardly be expected either to assent to or to refute. If we are to form +any opinions with regard to the condition of such bodies, and to trace +any bearing of such opinions upon our religious views, we must proceed +upon some ground which has more of reality than such a gratuitous +assumption. + +7. Thus the condition of man upon the earth, as a condition of +intellectual progress, implies such a special guidance and government +exercised over the race by the Author of his being, as produces +progress; and we have not, so far as we yet perceive, any reason for +supposing that He exercises a like guidance and government over any of +the other bodies with which the researches of astronomers have made us +acquainted. The earth and its inhabitants are under the care of God in a +special manner; and we are utterly destitute of any reason for believing +that other planets and other systems are under the care of God in the +same manner. If we regarded merely the existence of unprogressive races +of animals upon our globe, we might easily suppose that other globes +also are similarly tenanted; and we might infer, that the Creator and +Upholder of animal life was active on those globes, in the same manner +as upon ours. But when we come to a progressive creature, whose +condition implies a beginning, and therefore suggests an end, we form a +peculiar judgment with respect to God's care of that creature, which we +have not as yet seen the slightest grounds to extend to other possible +fields of existence, where we discern no indication of progress, of +beginning, or of end. So far as we can judge, God is mindful of man, and +has launched and guided his course in a certain path which makes his lot +and state different from that of all other creatures. + +8. Now when we have arrived at this result, we have, I conceive, reached +one of the points at which the difficulties which astronomical discovery +puts in the way of religious conviction begin to appear. The Earth and +its human inhabitants are, as far as we yet know, in an especial manner +the subjects of God's care and government, for the race is progressive. +Now can this be? Is it not difficult to believe that it is so? The +earth, so small a speck, only one among so many, so many thousands, so +many millions of other bodies, all, probably, of the same nature with +itself, wherefore should it draw to it the special regards of the +Creator of all, and occupy his care in an especial manner? The teaching +of the history of the human race, as intellectually progressive, agrees +with the teaching of Religion, in impressing upon us that God is mindful +of man; that he does regard him; but still, there naturally arises in +our minds a feeling of perplexity and bewilderment, which expresses +itself in the words already so often quoted, What is man, that this +should be so? Can it be true that this province is thus singled out for +a special and peculiar administration by the Lord of the Universal +Empire? + +9. Before I make any attempt to answer these questions, I must pursue +the difficulty somewhat further, and look at it in other forms. As I +have said, the history of Man has been, in certain nations, a history of +intellectual progress, from the earliest times up to our own day. But +intellectual progress has been, as I have also said, in a great measure +confined to certain nations thus especially favored. The greater part of +the earth's inhabitants have shared very scantily in that wealth of +knowledge to which the brightest and happiest intellects among men have +thus been led. But though the bulk of mankind have thus had little share +in the grand treasures of science which are open to the race, their life +has still been very different from that of other animals. Many nations, +though they may not have been conspicuous in the history of intellectual +progress, have yet not been without their place in progress of other +kinds--in arts, in arms, and, above all, in morals--in the recognition +of the distinction of right and wrong in human actions, and in the +practical application of this distinction. Such a progress as this has +been far more extensively aimed at, than a progress in abstract and +general knowledge; and, we may venture to say, has been, in many nations +and in a very great measure, really effected. No doubt the imperfection +of this progress, and the constant recurrence of events which appear to +counteract and reverse it, are so obvious and so common as to fill with +grief and indignation the minds of those who regard such a progress as +the great business of the human race; but yet still, looking at the +whole history of the human race, the progress is visible; and even the +grief and the indignation of which we have spoken are a part of its +evidences. There has been, upon the whole, a moral government of the +human race. The moral law, the distinction of right and wrong, has been +established in every nation; and penalties have been established for +wrong-doing. The notion of right and wrong has been extended, from mere +outward acts, to the springs of action, to affection, desire, and will. +The course of human affairs has generally been such, that the just, the +truthful, the kind, the chaste, the orderly portion of mankind have been +happier than the violent and wicked. External wrong has been commonly +punished by the act of human society. Internal sins, impure and +dishonest designs, falsehood, cruelty, have very often led to their own +punishment, by their effect upon the guilty mind itself. We do not say +that the moral government which has prevailed among men has been such, +that we can consider it complete and final in its visible form. We see +that the aspect of things is much the contrary; and we think we see +reasons why it may be expected to be so. But still, there has existed +upon earth a moral government of the human race, exercised, as we must +needs hold, by the Creator of man; partly through the direct operation +of man's faculties, affections, and emotions; and partly through the +authorities which, in all ages and nations, the nature of man has led +him to establish. Now this moral progress and moral government of the +human race is one of the leading facts on which Natural Religion is +founded. We are thus led to regard God as the Moral Governor of man; not +only his Creator and Preserver, but his Lawgiver and his Judge. And the +grounds on which we entertain this belief are peculiarly the human +faculties of man, and their operation in history and in society. The +belief is derived from the whole complex nature of man--the working of +his Affections, Desires, Convictions, Reason, Conscience, and whatever +else enters into the production of human action and its consequences. +God is seen to be the Moral Governor of man by evidence which is +especially derived from the character of Man, and which we could not +attempt to apply to any other creature than man without making our words +altogether unmeaning. But would it not be too bold an assumption to +speak of the Conscience of an inhabitant of Jupiter? Would it not be a +rash philosophy to assume the operation of Remorse or Self-approval on +the planet, in order that we may extend to it the moral government of +God? Except we can point out something more solid than this to reason +from, on such subjects, there is no use in our attempting to reason at +all. Our doctrines must be mere results of invention and imagination. +Here then, again, we are brought to the conviction that God is, so far +as we yet see, in an especial and peculiar manner, the Governor of the +earth and of its human inhabitants, in such a way that the like +government cannot be conceived to be extended to other planets, and +other systems, without arbitrary and fanciful assumptions; assumptions +either of unintelligible differences with incomprehensible results, or +of beings in all respects human, inhabiting the most remote regions of +the universe. And here, again, therefore, we are led to the same +difficulty which we have already encountered: Can the earth, a small +globe among so many millions, have been selected as the scene of this +especially Divine Government? + +10. That when we attempt to extend our sympathies to the inhabitants of +other planets and other worlds, and to regard them as living, like us, +under a moral government, we are driven to suppose them to be, in all +essential respects, human beings like ourselves, we have proof, in all +the attempts which have been made, with whatever license of hypothesis +and fancy, to present to us descriptions and representations of the +inhabitants of other parts of the universe. Such representations, though +purposely made as unlike human beings as the imagination of man can +frame them, still are merely combinations, slightly varied, of the +elements of human being; and thus show us that not only our reason, but +even our imagination, cannot conceive creatures subjected to the same +government to which man is subjected, without conceiving them as being +men of one kind or other. A mere animal life, with no interest but +animal enjoyment, we may conceive as assuming forms different from those +which appear in existing animal races; though even here, there are, as +we shall hereafter attempt to show, certain general principles which run +through all animal life. But when in addition to mere animal impulses, +we assume or suppose moral and intellectual interests, we conceive them +as the moral and intellectual interests of man. Truth and falsehood, +right and wrong, law and transgression, happiness and misery, reward and +punishment, are the necessary elements of all that can interest us--of +all that we can call _Government_. To transfer these to Jupiter or to +Sirius, is merely to imagine those bodies to be a sort of island of +Formosa, or new Atlantis, or Utopia, or Platonic Polity, or something of +the like kind. The boldest and most resolute attempts to devise some +life different from human life, have not produced anything more +different than romance-writers and political theorists have devised _as_ +a form of human life. And this being so, there is no more wisdom or +philosophy in believing such assemblages of beings to exist in Jupiter +or Sirius, without evidence, than in believing them to exist in the +island of Formosa, with the like absence of evidence. + +11. Any examination of what has been written on this subject would show +that, in speculating about moral and intellectual beings in other +regions of the universe, we merely make them to be men in another place. +With regard to the plants and animals of other planets, fancy has freer +play; but man cannot conceive any moral creature who is not man. Thus +Fontenelle, in his _Dialogues on the Plurality of Worlds_, makes the +inhabitants of Venus possess, in an exaggerated degree, the +characteristics of the men of the warm climates of the earth. They are +like the Moors of Grenada; or rather, the Moors of Grenada would be to +them as cold as Greenlanders and Laplanders to us. And the inhabitants +of Mercury have so much vivacity, that they would pass with us for +insane. "Enfin c'est dans Mercure que sont les Petites-Maisons de +l'Univers." The inhabitants of Jupiter and Saturn are immensely slow and +phlegmatic. And though he and other writers attempt to make these +inhabitants of remote regions in some respects superior to man, telling +us that instead of only five senses, they may have six, or ten, or a +hundred, still these are mere words which convey no meaning; and the +great astronomer Bessel had reason to say, that those who imagined +inhabitants in the Moon and Planets, supposed them, in spite of all +their protestations, as like to men as one egg to another.[1] + +12. But there is one step more, which we still have to make, in order to +bring out this difficulty in its full force. As we have said, the moral +law has been, to a certain extent, established, developed, and enforced +among men. But, as I have also said, looking carefully at the law, and +at the degree of man's obedience to it, and at the operation of the +sanctions by which it is supported, we cannot help seeing, that man's +knowledge of the law is imperfect, his conviction of its authority +feeble, his transgressions habitual, their punishment and consequences +obscure. When, therefore, we regard God, as the Lawgiver and Judge of +man, it will not appear strange to us, that he should have taken some +mode of promulgating his Law, and announcing his Judgments, in addition +to that ordinary operation of the faculties of man, of which we have +spoken. Revealed Religion teaches us that he has done so: that from the +first placing of the race of man upon the earth, it was his purpose to +do so: that by his dealing with the race of man in the earlier times, +and at various intervals, he made preparation for the mission of a +special Messenger, whom, in the fulness of time, he sent upon the earth +in the form of a man; and who both taught men the Law of God in a purer +and clearer form than any in which it had yet been given; and revealed +His purpose, of rewards for obedience, and punishments for disobedience, +to be executed in a state of being to which this human life is only an +introduction; and established the means by which the spirit of man, when +alienated from God by transgression, may be again reconciled to Him. The +arrival of this especial Messenger of Holiness, Judgment, and +Redemption, forms the great event in the history of the earth, +considered in a religious view, as the abode of God's servants. It was +attended with the sufferings and cruel death of the Divine Messenger +thus sent; was preceded by prophetic announcements of his coming; and +the history of the world, for the two thousand years that have since +elapsed, has been in a great measure occupied with the consequences of +that advent. Such a proceeding shows, of course, that God has an +especial care for the race of man. The earth, thus selected as the +theatre of such a scheme of Teaching and of Redemption, cannot, in the +eyes of any one who accepts this Christian faith, be regarded as being +on a level with any other domiciles. It is the Stage of the great Drama +of God's Mercy and Man's Salvation; the Sanctuary of the Universe; the +Holy Land of Creation; the Royal Abode, for a time at least, of the +Eternal King. This being the character which has thus been conferred +upon it, how can we assent to the assertions of Astronomers, when they +tell us that it is only one among millions of similar habitations, not +distinguishable from them, except that it is smaller than most of them +that we can measure; confused and rude in its materials like them? Or if +we believe the Astronomers, will not such a belief lead us to doubt the +truth of the great scheme of Christianity, which thus makes the earth +the scene of a special dispensation. + +13. This is the form in which Chalmers has taken up the argument. This +is the difficulty which he proposes to solve; or rather, (such being as +I have said the mode in which he presents the subject,) the objection +which he proposes to refute. It is the bearing of the Astronomical +discoveries of modern times, not upon the doctrines of Natural Religion, +but upon the scheme of Christianity, which he discusses. And the +question which he supposes his opponent to propound, as an objection to +the Christian scheme, is:--How is it consistent with the dignity, the +impartiality, the comprehensiveness, the analogy of God's proceedings, +that he should make so special and pre-eminent a provision for the +salvation of the inhabitants of this Earth, where there are such myriads +of other worlds, all of which may require the like provision, and all of +which have an equal claim to their Creator's care? + +14. The answer which Chalmers gives to this objection, is one drawn, in +the first instance, from our ignorance. He urges that, when the objector +asserts that other worlds may have the like need with our own, of a +special provision for the rescue of their inhabitants from the +consequences of the transgression of God's laws, he is really making an +assertion without the slightest foundation. Not only does Science not +give us any information on such subjects, but the whole spirit of the +scientific procedure, which has led to the knowledge which we possess, +concerning other planets and other systems, is utterly opposed to our +making such assumptions, respecting other worlds, as the objection +involves. Modern Science, in proportion as she is confident when she has +good grounds of proof, however strange may be the doctrines proved, is +not only diffident, but is utterly silent, and abstains even from +guessing, when she has no grounds of proof. Chalmers takes Newton's +reasoning, as offering a special example of this mixed temper, of +courage in following the evidence, and temperance in not advancing when +there is no evidence. He puts, in opposition to this, the example of the +true philosophical temper,--a supposed rash theorist, who should make +unwarranted suppositions and assumptions, concerning matters to which +our scientific evidence does not reach;--the animals and plants, for +instance, which are to be found in the planet Jupiter. No one, he says, +would more utterly reject and condemn such speculations than Newton, +who first rightly explained the motion of Jupiter and of his attendant +satellites, about which Science _can_ pronounce her truths. And thus, +nothing can be more opposite to the real spirit of modern science, and +astronomy in particular, than arguments, such as we have stated, +professing to be drawn from science and from astronomy. Since we know +nothing about the inhabitants of Jupiter, true science requires that we +say and suppose nothing about them; still more requires that we should +not, on the ground of assumptions made with regard to them, and other +supposed groups of living creatures, reject a belief, founded on direct +and positive proofs, such as is the belief in the truths of Natural and +of Revealed Religion. + +15. To this argument of Chalmers, we may not only give our full assent, +but we may venture to suggest, in accordance with what we have already +said, that the argument, when so put, is not stated in all its +legitimate force. The assertion that the inhabitants of Jupiter have the +same need as we have, of a special dispensation for their preservation +from moral ruin, is not only as merely arbitrary an assumption, as any +assertion could be, founded on a supposed knowledge of an analogy +between the botany of Jupiter, and the botany of the earth; but it is a +great deal more so. There may be circumstances which may afford some +reason to believe that something of the nature of vegetables grows on +the surface of Jupiter; for instance, if we find that he is a solid +globe surrounded by an atmosphere, vapor, clouds, showers. But, as we +have already said, there is an immeasurable distance between the +existence of unprogressive tribes of organized creatures, plants, or +even animals, and the existence of a progressive creature, which can +pass through the conditions of receiving, discerning, disobeying, and +obeying a moral law; which can be estranged from God, and then +reconciled to him. To assume, without further proof, that there are, in +Jupiter, creatures of such a nature that these descriptions apply to +them, is a far bolder and more unphilosophical assumption, than any that +the objector could make concerning the botany of Jupiter; and therefore, +the objection thus supposed to be drawn from our supposed knowledge, is +very properly answered by an appeal to our really utter ignorance, as to +the points on which the argument rests. + +16. This appeal to our ignorance is the main feature in Chalmers' +reasonings, so far as the argument on the one side or the other has +reference to science. Chalmers, indeed, pursues the argument into other +fields of speculation. He urges, that not only we have no right to +assume that other worlds require a redemption of the same kind as that +provided for man, but that the very reverse maybe the case. Man maybe +the only transgressor; and this, the only world that needed so great a +provision for its salvation. We read in Scripture, expressions which +imply that other beings, besides man, take an interest in the salvation +of man. May not this be true of the inhabitants of other worlds, if such +inhabitants there be? These speculations he pursues to a considerable +length, with great richness of imagination, and great eloquence. But the +suppositions on which they proceed are too loosely connected with the +results of science, to make it safe for us to dwell upon them here. + +17. I conceive, as I have said, that the argument with which Chalmers +thus deals admits of answers, also drawn from modern science, which to +many persons will seem more complete than that which is thus drawn from +our ignorance. But before I proceed to bring forward these answers, +which will require several steps of explanation, I have one or two +remarks still to make. + +18. Undoubtedly they who believe firmly both that the earth has been +the scene of a Divine Plan for the benefit of man, and also that other +bodies in the universe are inhabited by creatures who may have an +interest in such a Plan, are naturally led to conjectures and +imaginations as to the nature and extent of that interest. The religious +poet, in his Night Thoughts, interrogates the inhabitants of a distant +star, whether their race too has, in its history, events resembling the +fall of man, and the redemption of man. + + Enjoy your happy realms their golden age? + And had your Eden an abstemious Eve? + Or, if your mother fell are you redeemed? + And if redeemed, is your Redeemer scorned? + +And such imaginations may be readily allowed to the preacher or the +poet, to be employed in order to impress upon man the conviction of his +privileges, his thanklessness, his inconsistency, and the like. But +every form in which such reflections can be put shows how intimately +they depend upon the nature and history of man. And when such +reflections are made the source of difficulty or objection in the way of +religious thought, and when these difficulties and objections are +represented as derived from astronomical discoveries, it cannot be +superfluous to inquire whether astronomy has really discovered any +ground for such objections. To some persons it may be more grateful to +remedy one assumption by another: the assumption of moral agents in +other worlds, by the assumption of some operation of the Divine Plan in +other worlds. But since many persons find great difficulty in conceiving +such an operation of the Divine Plan in a satisfactory way; and many +persons also think that to make such unauthorized and fanciful +assumptions with regard to the Divine Plans for the government of God's +creatures is a violation of the humility, submission of mind, and spirit +of reverence which religion requires; it may be useful if we can show +that such assumptions, with regard to the Divine Plans, are called forth +by assumptions equally gratuitous on the other side: that Astronomy no +more reveals to us extra-terrestrial moral agents, than Religion reveals +to us extra-terrestrial Plans of Divine government. Chalmers has spoken +of the _rashness_ of making assumptions on such subjects without proof; +leaving it however, to be supposed, that though astronomy does not +supply proof of intelligent inhabitants of other parts of the universe, +she yet does offer strong analogies in favor of such an opinion. But +such a procedure is more than rash: when astronomical doctrines are +presented in the form in which they have been already laid before the +reader, which is the ordinary and popular mode of apprehending them, the +analogies in favor of "other worlds," are (to say the least) greatly +exaggerated. And by taking into account what astronomy really teaches +us, and what we learn also from other sciences, I shall attempt to +reduce such "analogies" to their true value. + +14. The privileges of man, which make the difficulty in assigning him +his place in the vast scheme of the Universe, we have described as +consisting in his being an _intellectual_, _moral_, and _religious_ +creature. Perhaps the privileges implied in the last term, and their +place in our argument, may justify a word more of explanation. Religion +teaches us that there is opened to man, not only a prospect of a life in +the presence of God, after this mortal life, but also the possibility +and the duty of spending this life as in the presence of God. This is +properly the highest result and manifestation of the effect of Religion +upon man. Precisely because it is this, it is difficult to speak of this +effect without seeming to use the language of enthusiasm; and yet +again, precisely because it is so, our argument would be incomplete +without a reference to it. There is for man, a possibility and a duty of +bringing his thoughts, purposes, and affections more and more into +continual unison with the will of God. This, even Natural Religion +taught men, was the highest point at which man could aim; and Revealed +Religion has still more clearly enjoined the duty of aiming at such a +condition. The means of a progress towards such a state belong to the +Religion of the heart and mind. They include a constant purification and +elevation of the thoughts, affections, and will, wrought by habits of +religious reflection and meditation, of prayer and gratitude to God. +Without entering into further explanation, all religious persons will +agree that such a progress is, under happy influences, possible for man, +and is the highest condition to which he can attain in this life. +Whatever names may have been applied at different times to the steps of +such a progress;--the cultivation of the divine nature in us; +resignation; devotion; holiness; union with God; living in God, and with +God in us;--religious persons will not doubt that there is a reality of +internal state corresponding to these expressions; and that, to be +capable of elevation into the condition which these expressions +indicate, is one of the especial privileges of man. Man's soul, +considered especially as the subject of God's government, is often +called his _Spirit_; and that man is capable of such conformity to the +will of God, and approximation to Him, is sometimes expressed by +speaking of him as a _spiritual creature_. And though the privilege of +being, or of being capable of becoming, in this sense, a spiritual +creature, is a part of man's religious privileges; we may sometimes be +allowed to use this additional expression, in order to remind the +reader, how great those religious privileges are, and how close is the +relation between man and God, which they imply. + +15. We have given a view of the peculiar character of man's condition, +which seem to claim for him a nature and place unique and incapable of +repetition, in the scheme of the universe; and to this view astronomy, +exhibiting to us the habitation of man as only one among many similar +abodes, offers an objection. We are, therefore, now called upon, I +conceive, to proceed to exhibit the answer which a somewhat different +view of modern science suggests to this difficulty or objection. + +For this purpose, we must begin by regarding the Earth in another point +of view, different from that hitherto considered by us. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Populäre Vorlesungen über Wissenschaftliche Gegenstände, p. 31. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +GEOLOGY. + + +1. Man, as I trust has been made apparent to the consciousness and +conviction of the reader, is an intelligent, moral, religious, and +spiritual creature; and we have to discuss the difficulty, or +perplexity, or objection, which arises in our minds, when we consider +such a creature as occupying an habitation, which is but one among many +globes apparently equally fitted to be the dwelling-places of living +things--a mere speck in the immensity of creation--an atom among such a +vast array of material structures--a world, as we needs must deem it, +among millions of other objects which appear to have an equal claim to +be regarded as worlds. + +2. The difficulty appears to be great, either way. Can the earth alone +be the theatre of such intelligent, moral, religious, and spiritual +action? On the other hand, can we conceive such action to go on in the +other bodies of the universe? If we take the latter alternative, we must +people other planets and other systems with men such as we are, even as +to their history. For the intellectual and moral condition of man +implies a _history_ of the species; and the view of man's condition +which religion presents, not only involves a scheme of which the history +of the human race is a part, but also asserts a peculiar reference had, +in the provisions of God, to the nature of man; and even a peculiar +relation and connection between the human and the divine nature. To +extend such suppositions to other worlds would be a proceeding so +arbitrary and fanciful, that we are led to consider whether the +alternative supposition may not be more admissible. The alternative +supposition is, that man is, in an especial and eminent manner, the +object of God's care; that his place in the creation is, not that he +merely occupies one among millions of similar domiciles provided in +boundless profusion by the Creator of the Universe, but that he is the +servant, subject, and child of God, in a way unique and peculiar; that +his being a spiritual creature, (including his other attributes in the +highest for the sake of brevity,) makes him belong to a spiritual world, +which is not to be judged of merely by analogies belonging to the +material universe. + +3. Between these two difficulties the choice is embarrassing, and the +decision must be unsatisfactory, except we can find some further ground +of judgment. But perhaps this is not hopeless. We have hitherto referred +to the evidence and analogies supplied by one science, namely, +astronomy. But there are other sciences which give us information +concerning the nature and history of the earth. From some of these, +perhaps, we may obtain some knowledge of the place of the earth in the +scheme of creation--how far it is, in its present condition, a thing +unique, or only one thing among many like it. Any science which supplies +us with evidence or information on this head, will give us aid in +forming a judgment upon the question under our consideration. To such +sciences, then, we will turn our attention. + +One science has employed itself in investigating the nature and history +of the earth by an examination of the materials of which it is +composed; namely, Geology. Let us call to mind some of the results at +which this science has arrived. + +4. A very little attention to what is going on among the materials of +which the earth's surface is composed, suffices to show us that there +are causes of change constantly and effectually at work. The earth's +surface is composed of land and water, hills and valleys, rocks and +rivers. But these features undergo change, and produce change in each +other. The mountain-rivers cut deeper and deeper into the ravines in +which they run; they break up the rocks over which they rush, use the +fragments as implements of further destruction, pile them up in sloping +mounds where the streams issue from the mountains, spread them over the +plains, fill up lakes with sediment, push into the sea great deltas. The +sea batters the cliffs and eats away the land, and again, forms banks +and islands where there had been deep water. Volcanoes pour out streams +of lava, which destroy the vegetation over which they flow, and which +again, after a series of years, are themselves clothed with vegetation. +Earthquakes throw down tracts of land beneath the sea, and elevate other +tracts from the bottom of the ocean. These agencies are everywhere +manifest; and though at a given moment, at a given spot, their effect +may seem to us almost imperceptible, too insignificant to be taken +account of, yet in a long course of years almost every place has +undergone considerable changes. Rivers have altered their courses, lakes +have become plains, coasts have been swept away or have become inland +districts, rich valleys have been ravaged by watery or fiery deluges, +the country has in some way or other assumed a new face. The present +aspect of the earth is in some degree different from what it was a few +thousand years ago. + +5. But yet, in truth, the changes of which we thus speak have not been +very considerable. The forms of countries, the lines of coasts, the +ranges of mountains, the groups of valleys, the courses of rivers, are +much the same now as they were in ancient times. The face of the earth, +since man has had any knowledge of it, may have undergone some change, +but the changeable has borne a small proportion to the permanent. +Changes have taken place, and are taking place, but they do not take +place rapidly. The ancient earth and the modern earth are, in all their +main physical features, identical; and we must go backwards through a +considerably larger interval than that which carries us back to what we +usually term _antiquity_, before we are led, by the operation of causes +now at work, to an aspect of the earth's surface very different from +that which it now presents. + +6. For instance, rivers do, no doubt, more or less alter, in the course +of years, by natural causes. The Rhine, the Rhone, the Po, the Danube, +have, certainly, during the last four thousand years, silted up their +beds in level places, expanded the deltas at their mouths, changed the +channels by which they enter the sea; and very probably, in their upper +parts, altered the forms of their waterfalls and of their shingle beds. +Yet even if we were thus to go backwards ten thousand, or twenty, or +thirty thousand years, (setting aside great and violent causes of +change, as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the like,) the general +form and course of these rivers, and of the ranges of mountains in which +they flow, would not be different from what it is now. And the same may +be said of coasts and islands, seas and bays. The present geography of +the earth may be, and from all the evidence which we have, must be, very +ancient, according to any measures of antiquity which can apply to human +affairs. + +7. But yet the further examination of the materials of the earth +carries us to a view beyond this. Though the general forms of the land +and the waters of continents and seas, were, several thousand years ago, +much the same as they now are; yet it was not always so. We have clear +evidence that large tracts which are now dry ground, were formerly the +bed of the ocean; and these, not tracts of the shore, where the varying +warfare of sea and land is still going on, but the very central parts of +great continents; the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas. For not only +are the rocks of which these great mountain-chains consist, of such +structure that they appear to have been formed as layers of sediment at +the bottom of water; but also, these layers contain vast accumulations +of shells, or impressions of shells, and other remains of marine +animals. And these appearances are not few, limited, or partial. The +existence of such marine remains, in the solid substance of continents +and mountains, is a general, predominant, and almost universal fact, in +every part of the earth. Nor is any other way of accounting for this +fact admissible, than that those materials really have, at some time, +formed bottoms of seas. The various other conjectures and hypotheses, +which were put forward on this subject, when the amount, extent, +multiplicity, and coherence of the phenomena were not yet ascertained, +and when their natural history was not yet studied, cannot now be +considered as worthy of the smallest regard. That many of our highest +hills are formed of materials raised from the depths of ocean, is a +proposition which cannot be doubted, by any one, who fairly examines the +evidence which nature offers. + +8. If we take this proposition only, we cannot immediately connect it +with our knowledge respecting the surface of the earth in its present +form. We learn that what is now land, has been sea; and we may suppose +(since it is natural to assume that the bulk of the sea has not much +changed) that what is now sea was formerly land. But, except we can +learn something of the manner in which this change took place, we cannot +make any use of our knowledge. Was the change sudden, or gradual; +abrupt, or successive; brief, or long-continuing? + +9. To these questions, the further study of the facts enables us to +return answers with great confidence. The change or changes which +produced the effects of which we have spoken--the conversion of the +bottom of the ocean into the centre of our greatest continents and +highest mountains,--were undoubtedly gradual, successive, and long +continued. We must state very briefly the grounds on which we make this +assertion. + +10. The masses which form our mountain-chains, offer evidence, as I have +said, that they were deposited as sediment at the bottom of a sea, and +then hardened. They consist of successive layers of such sediment, +making up the whole mass of the mountain. These layers are, of course, +to a certain extent, a measure of the time during which the deposition +of sediment took place. The thicker the mass of sediment, the more +numerous and varied its beds, and the longer period must we suppose to +have been requisite for its formation. Without making any attempt at +accurate or definite estimation, which would be to no purpose, it is +plain that a mass of sedimentary strata five thousand or ten thousand +feet thick, must have required, for its deposit, a long course of years, +or rather, a long course of ages. + +11. But again: on further examination it is found, that we have not +merely one series of sedimentary deposits, thus forming our mountains. +There are a number of different series of such layers or strata, to be +found in different ranges of hills, and in the same range, one series +resting upon another. These different series of strata are +distinguishable from one another by their general structure and +appearance, besides more intimate characters, of which we shall shortly +have to speak. Each such series appears to have a certain consistency of +structure within itself; the layers of which it is composed being more +or less parallel, but the successive series are not thus always +parallel, the lower ones being often highly inclined and irregular, +while the upper ones are more level and continuous: as if the lower +strata had been broken up and thrown into disorder, and then a new +series of strata had been deposited horizontally on their fragments. But +in whatever way these different sedimentary series succeeded each other, +each series must have required, as we have seen, a long period for its +formation; and to estimate the length of the interval between the two +series, we have, at the present stage of our exposition, no evidence. + +12. But the mechanical structure of the strata, the result, as it seems, +of aqueous sedimentary deposit, is not the only, nor the most important +evidence, with regard to the length of time occupied by the formation of +the rocky layers which now compose our mountains. As we have said, they +contain shells, and other remains of creatures which live in the sea. +These they contain, not in small numbers, scattered and detached, but in +vast abundance, as they are found in those parts of the ocean which is +most alive with them. There are the remains of oysters and other +shell-fish in layers, as they live at present in the seas near our +shores; of corals, in vast patches and beds, as they now occur in the +waters of the Pacific; of shoals of fishes, of many different kinds, in +immense abundance. Each of these beds of shells, of corals, and of +fishes, must have required many years, perhaps many centuries, for the +growth of the successive individuals and successive generations of which +it consists: as long a time, perhaps, as the present inhabitants of the +sea have lived therein: or many times longer, if there have been many +such successive changes. And thus, while the present condition of the +earth extends backwards to a period of vast but unknown antiquity; we +have, offered to our notice, the evidence of a series of other periods, +each of which, so far as we can judge, may have been as long or longer +than that during which the dry land has had its present form. + +13. But the most remarkable feature in the evidence is yet to come. We +have spoken in general of the oysters, and corals, and fishes, which +occur in the strata of our hills; as if they were creatures of the same +kinds which we now designate by those names. But a more exact +examination of these remains of organized beings, shows that this is not +so. The tribes of animals which are found petrified in our rocks are +almost all different, so far as our best natural historians can +determine, from those which now live in our existing seas. They are +different species; different genera. The creatures which we find thus +embedded in our mountains, are not only dead as individuals, but extinct +as species. They belonged, not only to a terrestrial period, but to an +animal creation, which is now past away. The earth is, it seems, a +domicile which has outlasted more than one race of tenants. + +14. It may seem rash and presumptuous in the natural historian to +pronounce thus peremptorily that certain forms of life are nowhere to be +found at present, even in the unfathomable and inaccessible depths of +the ocean. But even if this were so, the proposition that the earth has +changed its inhabitants, since the rocks were formed, of which our hills +consist, does not depend for its proof on this assumption. For in the +organic bodies which our strata contain, we find remains, not only of +marine animals, but of animals which inhabit the fresh waters, and the +land, and of plants. And the examination of such remains having been +pursued with great zeal, and with all the aids which natural history can +supply, the result has been, the proofs of a vast series of different +tribes of animals and plants, which have successively occupied the earth +and the seas; and of which the number, variety, multiplicity, and +strangeness, exceed, by far, everything which could have been previously +imagined. Thus Cuvier found, in the limestone strata on which Paris +stands, animals of the most curious forms, combining in the most +wonderful manner the qualities of different species of existing +quadrupeds. In another series of strata, the Lias, which runs as a band +across England from N. E. to S. W., we have the remains of lizards, or +lacertine animals, different from those which now exist, of immense size +and of extraordinary structure, some approaching to the form of fishes +(_ichthyosaurus_); others, with the neck of a serpent; others with +wings, like the fabled forms of dragons. Then beyond these, that is, +anterior to them in the series of time, we have the immense collection +of fossil plants, which occur in the Coal Strata; the shells and corals +of the Mountain Limestone; the peculiar fishes, different altogether +from existing fishes, of the Old Red Sandstone; and though, as we +descend lower and lower, the traces of organic life appear to be more +rare and more limited in kind, yet still we have, beneath these, in +slates and in beds of limestone, many fossil remains, still differing +from those which occur in the higher, and therefore, newer strata. + +15. We have no intention of instituting any definite calculation with +regard to the periods of time which this succession of forms of organic +life may have occupied. This, indeed, the boldest geological +speculators have not ventured to do. But the scientific discoveries thus +made, have a bearing upon the analogies of creation, quite as important +as the discoveries of astronomy. And therefore we may state briefly some +of the divisions of the series of terrestrial strata which have +suggested themselves to geological inquirers. At the outset of such +speculations, it was conceived that the lower rocks, composed of +granite, slate, and the like, had existed before the earth was peopled +with living things; and that these, being broken up into inclined +positions, there were deposited upon them, as the sediment of +superincumbent waters, strata more horizontal, containing organic +remains. The former were then called _Primitive_ or _Primary_, the +latter, _Secondary_ rocks. But it was soon found that this was too +sweeping and peremptory a division. Rocks which had been classed as +Primary, were found to contain traces of life; and hence, an +intermediate class of _Transition_ strata was spoken of. But this too +was soon seen to be too narrow a scheme of arrangement, to take in the +rapidly-accumulating mass of facts, organic and others, which the +geological record of the earth's history disclosed. It appeared that +among the fossil-bearing strata there might be discerned a long series +of Formations: the term _Formation_ being used to imply a collection of +successive strata, which, taking into account all the evidence, of +materials, position, relations, and organic remains, appears to have +been deposited during some one epoch or period; so as to form a natural +group, chronologically and physiologically distinct from the others. In +this way it appeared that, taking as the highest part of the Secondary +series, the beds of chalk, which, marked by characteristic fossils, run +through great tracts of Europe, with other beds, of sand and clay, which +generally accompany these; there was, below this _Cretaceous Formation_, +an _Oolitic Formation_, still more largely diffused, and still more +abundant in its peculiar organic remains. Below this, we have, in +England, the _New Red Sandstone Formation_, which, in other countries, +is accompanied by beds abundant in fossils, as the _Muschelkalk_ of +Germany. Below this again we have the _Coal Formation_, and the +_Mountain Limestone_, with their peculiar fossils. Below these, we have +the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian System, with its peculiar fishes and +other fossils. Beneath these, occur still numerous series of +distinguishable strata; which have been arranged by Sir Roderick +Murchison as the members of the _Silurian_ formation; the researches by +which it was established having been carried on, in the first place, in +South Wales, the ancient country of the Silures. Including the lower +part of this formation, and descending still lower in order, is the +_Cambrian_ formation of Professor Sedgwick. And since the races of +organic beings, as we thus descend through successive strata, seem to be +fewer and fewer in their general types, till at last they disappear; +these lower members of the geological series have been termed, according +to their succession, _Palæozoic_, _Protozoic_, and _Hypozoic_ or +_Azoic_. The general impression on the minds of geologists has been, +that, as we descend in this long staircase of natural steps, we are +brought in view of a state of the earth in which life was scantily +manifested, so as to appear to be near its earliest stages. + +16. Each of these formations is of great thickness. Several of the +members of each formation are hundreds, many of them thousands of feet +thick. Taken altogether, they afford an astounding record of the time +during which they must have been accumulating, and during which these +successive groups of animals must have been brought into being, lived, +and continued their kinds. + +17. We must add, that over the Secondary strata there are found, in +patches, generally of more limited extent, another, and of course, newer +mass of strata, which have been termed _Tertiary Formations_. Of these, +the strata, near and under Paris, lying in a hollow of the subjacent +strata, and hence termed the _Paris Basin_, attracted prominent notice +in the first place. And these are found to contain an immense quantity +of remains of animals, which, being well preserved, and being subjected +to a careful and scientific scrutiny by the great naturalist George +Cuvier, had an eminent share in establishing in the minds of Geologists +the belief of the extinct character of fossil species, and of the +possibility of reconstructing, from such remains, the animals, different +from those which now live, which had formerly tenanted the earth. + +18. We have, in this enumeration, a series of groups of strata, each of +which, speaking in a general way, has its own population of animals and +plants, and is separated, by the peculiarities of these, from the groups +below and above it. Each group may, in a general manner, be considered +as a separate creation of animal and vegetable forms--creatures which +have lived and died, as the races now existing upon the earth live and +die; and of which the living existence may, and according to all +appearance must, have occupied ages, and series of ages, such as have +been occupied by the present living generations of the earth. This +series of creations, or of successive periods of life, is, no doubt, a +very striking and startling fact, very different from anything which the +imagination of man, in previous stages of investigation of the earth's +condition, had conceived; but still, is established by evidence so +complete, drawn from an examination and knowledge of the structures of +living things so exact and careful, as to leave no doubt whatever of the +reality of the fact, on the minds of those who have attended to the +evidence; founded, as it is, upon the analogies, offices, anatomy, and +combinations of organic structures. The progress of human knowledge on +this subject has been carried on and established by the same +alternations of bold conjectures and felicitous confirmations of +them,--of minute researches and large generalizations,--which have given +reality and solidity to the other most certain portions of human +knowledge. That the strata of the earth, as we descend from the highest +to the lowest, are distinguished in general by characteristic or organic +fossils, and that these forms of organization are different from those +which now live on the earth, are truths as clearly and indisputably +established in the minds of those who have the requisite knowledge of +geology and natural history, as that the planets revolve round the sun, +and satellites round the planets. That these epochs of creation are +something quite different from anything which we now see taking place on +the earth, no more disturbs the belief of those facts, which scientific +explorers entertain, than the seemingly obvious difference between the +nebulæ which are regarded as yet unformed planetary systems, and the +solar system to which our earth belongs, disturbs the belief of +astronomers, that such nebulæ, as well as our system, really exist. +Indeed we may say, as we shall hereafter see, that the fact of our earth +having passed through the series of periods of organic life which +geologists recognize, is, hitherto, incomparably better established, +than the fact that the nebulæ, or any of them, are passing through a +series of changes, such as may lead to a system like ours; as some +eminent astronomers in modern times have held. In this respect, the +history of the world, and its place in the universe, are far more +clearly learnt from geology than from astronomy. + +19. But with regard to this series of Organic _Creations_, if, for the +sake of brevity, we may call them so; we may naturally ask, in what +manner, by what agencies, at what intervals, they succeeded each other +on the earth? Now, do the researches of geologists give us any +information on these points, which may be brought to bear upon our +present speculations? If we ask these questions, we receive, from +different classes of geologists, different answers. A little while ago, +most geologists held, probably the greater number still hold, that the +transitions from one of these periods of organic life to another, were +accompanied generally by seasons of violent disruption and mutation of +the surface of the earth, exceeding anything which has taken place since +the surface assumed its present general form; in the same proportion as +the changes of its organic population go beyond any such changes which +we can discern to be at present in operation. And there were found to be +changes of other kinds, which seemed to show that these epochs of +organic transition had also been epochs of mechanical violence, upon a +vast and wonderful scale. It appeared that, at some of these epochs at +least, the strata previously deposited, as if in comparative +tranquillity, had been broken, thrust up from below, or drawn or cast +downwards; so that strata which must at first have been nearly level, +were thrown into positions highly inclined, fractured, set on edge, +contorted, even inverted. Over the broken edges of these strata, thus +disturbed and fractured, were found vast accumulations of the fragments +which such rude treatment might naturally produce; these fragmentary +ruins being spread in beds comparatively level, over the bristling edges +of the subjacent rocks, as if deposited in the fluid which had +overwhelmed the previous structure; and with few or no traces of life +appearing in this mass of ruins; while, in the strata which lay over +them, and which appeared to have been the result of quieter times, new +forms of organic life made their appearance in vast abundance. Such is, +for example, the relation of the coal strata in a great part of +England; broken into innumerable basins, ridges, valleys, strips, and +shreds, lying in all positions; and then filled into a sort of level, by +the conglomerate of the magnesian limestone, and the superincumbent red +sandstone and oolites. In other cases it appeared as if there were the +means of tracing, in these dislocations, the agency of igneous stony +matter, which had been injected from below, so as to form +mountain-chains, or the cores of such; and in which the period of the +convulsion could be traced, by the strata to which the disturbance +extended; _those_ strata being supposed to have been deposited before +the eruption, which were thrust upwards by it into highly-inclined +positions; while those strata which, though near to these scenes of +mechanical violence, were still comparatively horizontal, as they had +been originally deposited, were naturally inferred to have been formed +in the waters, after the catastrophe had passed away. By such reasonings +as these, M. Elie de Beaumont has conceived that he can ascertain the +relative ages (according to the vast and loose measurements of age which +belong to this subject) of the principal ranges of mountains of the +earth's surface. + +20. Such estimations of age can, indeed, as we have intimated, be only +of the widest and loosest kind; yet they all concur in assigning very +great and gigantic periods of time, as having been occupied by the +events which have formed the earth's strata, and brought them into their +present position. For not only must there have been long ages employed, +as we have said, while the successive generations of each group of +animals lived, and died, and were entombed in the abraded fragments of +the then existing earth; but the other operations which intervened +between these apparently more tranquil processes, must also have +occupied, it would seem, long ages at each interval. The dislocation, +disruption, and contortion of the vast masses of previously existing +mountains, by which their framework was broken up, and its ruins covered +with beds of its own rubbish, many thousand feet thick, and gradually +becoming less coarse and smoother, as the higher beds were deposited +upon the lower, could hardly take place, it would seem, except in +hundreds and thousands of years. And then again, all these processes of +deposition, thus arranging loose masses of material into level beds, +must have taken place in the bottom of deep oceans; and the beds of +these oceans must have been elevated into the position of mountain +ridges which they now occupy, by some mighty operation of nature, which +must have been comparatively tranquil, since it has not much disturbed +those more level beds; and which, therefore, must have been +comparatively long continued. If we accept, as so many eminent +geologists have done, this evidence of a vast series of successive +periods of alternate violence and repose, we must assign to each such +period a duration which cannot but be immense, compared with the periods +of time with which we are commonly conversant. In the periods of +comparative quiet, such as now exist on the earth's surface, and such as +seem to be alone consistent with continued life and successive +generation, deposits at the bottom of lakes and seas take place, it +would seem, only at the rate of a few feet in a year, or perhaps, in a +century. When, therefore, we find strata, bearing evidence of such a +mode of deposit, and piled up to the amount of thousands and tens of +thousands of feet, we are naturally led to regard them as the production +of myriads of years; and to add new myriads, as often as, in the +prosecution of geological research, we are brought to new masses of +strata of the like kind; and again, to interpolate new periods of the +same order, to allow for the transition from one such group to another. + +21. Nor is there anything which need startle us, in the necessity of +assuming such vast intervals of time, when we have once brought +ourselves to deal with the question of the antiquity of the earth upon +scientific evidence alone. For if geology thus carries us far backwards +through thousands, it may be, millions of years, astronomy does not +offer the smallest argument to check this regressive supposition. On the +contrary, all the most subtle and profound investigations of astronomers +have led them to the conviction, that the motions of the earth may have +gone on, as they now go on, for an indefinite period of past time. There +is no tendency to derangement in the mechanism of the solar system, so +for as science has explored it. Minute inequalities in the movements +exist, too small to produce any perceptible effect on the condition of +the earth's surface; and even these inequalities, after growing up +through long cycles of ages, to an amount barely capable of being +detected by astronomical scrutiny, reach a maximum; and, diminishing by +the same slow degrees by which they increased, correct themselves, and +disappear. The solar system, and the earth as part of it, constitute, so +for as we can discover, a Perpetual Motion. + +22. There is therefore nothing, in what we know of the Cosmical +conditions of our globe, to contradict the Terrestrial evidence for its +vast antiquity, as the seat of organic life. If for the sake of giving +definiteness to our notions, we were to assume that the numbers which +express the antiquity of these four Periods;--the Present organic +condition of the earth; the Tertiary Period of geologists, which +preceded that; the Secondary Period, which was anterior to that; and the +Primary Period which preceded the Secondary; were on the same scale as +the numbers which express these four magnitudes:--the magnitude of the +Earth; that of the Solar System compared with the Earth; the distance +of the nearest Fixed Stars compared with the solar system; and the +distance of the most remote Nebulæ compared with the nearest fixed +stars; there is, in the evidence which geological science offers, +nothing to contradict such an assumption. + +23. And as the infinite extent which we necessarily ascribe to space, +allows us to find room, without any mental difficulty, for the vast +distances which astronomy reveals, and even leaves us rather embarrassed +with the infinite extent which lies beyond our farthest explorations; so +the infinite duration which we, in like manner, necessarily ascribe to +past time, makes it easy for us, so far as our powers of intellect are +concerned, to go millions of millions of years backwards, in order to +trace the beginning of the earth's existence,--the first step of +terrestrial creation. It is as easy for the mind of man to reason +respecting a system which is billions or trillions of miles in extent, +and has endured through the like number of years, or centuries, as it is +to reason about a system (the earth, for instance,) which is forty +million feet in extent, and has endured for a hundred thousand million +of seconds, that is, a few thousand years. + +24. This statement is amply sufficient for the argument which we have to +found upon it; but before I proceed to do that, I will give another view +which has recently been adopted by some geologists, of the mode in which +the successive periods of creation, which geological research discloses +to us, have passed into one another. According to this new view, we find +no sufficient reason to believe that the history of the earth, as read +by us in the organic and mechanical phenomena of its superficial parts, +has consisted of such an alternation of periods of violence and of +repose, as we have just attempted to describe. According to these +theorists, strata have succeeded strata, one group of animals and +plants has followed another, through a season of uniform change; with no +greater paroxysm or catastrophe, it may be, than has occurred during the +time that man has been an observer of the earth. It may be asked, how is +this consistent with the phenomena which we have described;--with the +vast masses of ruin, which mark the end of one period and the beginning +of another, as is the case in passing from the coal measures of England +to the superincumbent beds;--with the highly-inclined strata of the +central masses, and the level beds of the upper formations which have +been described as marking the mountain ranges of Europe? To these +questions, a reply is furnished, we are told, by a more extensive and +careful examination of the strata. It may be, that in certain +localities, in certain districts, the transition, from the mountain +limestone and the coal, to the superjacent sandstones and oolites, is +abrupt and seemingly violent; marked by _unconformable_ positions of the +upper upon the lower strata, by beds of conglomerate, by the absence of +organic remains in certain of these beds. But if we follow these very +strata into other parts of the world, or even into other parts of this +island, we find that this abruptness and incongruity between the lower +and the higher strata disappears. Between the mountain-limestone and the +red sandstone which lies over it, certain new beds are found, which fill +up the incoherent interval; which offer the same evidence as the strata +below and above them, of having been produced tranquilly; and which do +not violently differ in position from either group. The appearance of +incoherence in the series arose from the occurrence, in the region first +examined, of a gap, which is here filled up,--a blank which is here +supplied. Hence it is inferred, that whatever of violence and extreme +disturbance is indicated by the dislocations and ruins there observed, +was local and partial only; and that, at the very time when these +fragmentary beds, void of organized beings, were forming in one place, +there were, at the same time, going on, in another part of the earth's +surface, not far removed, the processes of the life, death and imbedding +of species, as tranquilly as at any other period. And the same assertion +is made with regard to the more general fact, before described, of the +stratigraphical constitution of mountain chains. It is asserted that the +unconformable relation of the strata which compose the different parts +of those chains, is a local occurrence only; and that the same strata, +if followed into other regions, are found conformable to each other; or +are reduced to a virtually continuous scheme, by the interpolation of +other strata, which make a transition, in which no evidence of +exceptional violence appears. + +25. We shall not attempt (it is not at all necessary for us to do so) to +decide between the doctrines of the two geological schools which thus +stand in this opposition to each other. But it will be useful to our +argument to state somewhat further the opinions of this latter school on +one main point. We must explain the view which these geologists take of +the mode of succession of one group of _organized_ beings to another; by +which, as we have said, the different successive strata are +characterized. Such a phenomenon, it would at first seem, cannot be +brought within the ordinary rules of the existing state of things. The +species of plants and animals which inhabit the earth, do not change +from age to age; they are the same in modern times, as they were in the +most remote antiquity, of which we have any record. The dogs and horses, +sheep and cattle, lions and wolves, eagles and swallows, corn and vines, +oaks and cedars, which occupy the earth now, are not, we have the +strongest reasons to believe, essentially different now from what they +were in the earliest ages. At least, if one or two species have +disappeared, no new species have come into existence. We cannot conceive +a greater violation of the known laws of nature, than that such an event +as the appearance of a new species should have occurred. Even those who +hold the uniformity of the mechanical changes of the earth, and of the +rate of change, from age to age, and from one geological period to +another; must still, it would seem, allow that the zoological and +phytological changes of which geology gives her testimony, are complete +exceptions to what is now taking place. The formation of strata at the +bottom of the ocean from the ruin of existing continents, may be going +on at present. Even the elevation of the bed of the ocean in certain +places, as a process imperceptibly slow, may be in action at this +moment, as these theorists hold that it is. But still, even when the +beds thus formed are elevated into mountain chains, if that should +happen, in the course of myriads of years, (according to the supposition +it cannot be effected in a less period,) the strata of such mountain +chains will still contain only the species of such creatures as now +inhabit the waters; and we shall have, even then, no succession of +organic epochs, such as geology discovers in the existing mountains of +the earth. + +26. The answer which is made to this objection appears to me to involve +a license of assumption on the part of the _uniformitarian_ geologist, +(as such theorists have been termed,) which goes quite beyond the bounds +of natural philosophy: but I wish to state it; partly, in order to show +that the most ingenious men, stimulated by the exigencies of a theory, +which requires some hypothesis concerning the succession of species, to +make it coherent and complete, have still found it impossible to bring +the creation of species of plants and animals within the domain of +natural science; and partly, to show how easily and readily geological +theorists are led to assume periods of time, even of a higher order than +those which I have ventured to suggest. + +27. It must, however, be first stated, as a fact on which the assumption +is founded which I have to notice, that the organic groups by which +these successive strata are characterized, are not so distinct and +separate, as it was convenient, for the sake of explanation, to describe +them in the first instance. Although each body of strata is marked by +predominant groups of genera and species, yet it is not true, that all +the species of each formation disappear, when we proceed to the next. +Some species and genera endure through several successive groups of +strata; while others disappear, and new forms come into view, as we +ascend. And thus, the change from one set of organic forms to another, +as we advance in time, is made, not altogether by abrupt transitions, +but in part continuously. The uniformitarian, in the case of organic, as +in the case of mechanical change, obliterates or weakens the evidence of +sudden and catastrophic leaps, by interposing intermediate steps, which +involve, partly the phenomena of the preceding, and partly those of the +subsequent condition. As he allows no universal transition from one +deposit to a succeeding discrepant and unconformable deposit, so he +allows no abrupt and complete transition from one collection of organic +beings,--one creation, as we may call it,--to another. If creation must +needs be an act out of the region of natural science, he will have it to +be at least an act not exercised at distant intervals, and on peculiar +occasions; but constantly going on, and producing its effects, as much +at one time in the geological history of the world, as at another. + +28. And this he holds, not only with regard to the geological periods +which have preceded the existing condition of the earth, but also with +regard to the transition from those previous periods to that in which we +live. The present population of the earth is not one in which all +previous forms are extinct. The past population of the earth was not one +in which there are found no creatures still living. On the contrary, he +finds that there exists a vast mass of strata, superior to the secondary +strata, which are characterized by extinct forms, and are yet inferior +to those deposits which are now going on by the agency of obvious +causes. These masses of strata contain a population of creatures, partly +extinct species, and partly such species as are still living on our land +and in our waters. The proportion in which the old and the new species +occur in such strata, is various; and the strata are so numerous, so +rich in organic remains, so different from each other, and have been so +well explored, that they have been classified and named according to the +proportion of new and of old species which they contain. Those which +contain the largest proportion of species still living, have been termed +_Pliocene_, as containing a _greater_ number of _new_ or recent species. +Below these, are strata which are termed _Miocene_, implying a _smaller_ +number of _new_ species. Below these again, are others which have been +termed _Eocene_, as containing few new species indeed, but yet enough to +mark the _dawn_, the _Eos_, of the existing state of the organic world. +These strata are, in many places, of very considerable thickness; and +their number, their succession, and the great amount of extinct species +which they contain, shows, in a manner which cannot be questioned, (if +the evidence of geology is accepted at all,) in what a gradual manner, a +portion at least, of the existing forms of organic life have taken the +place of a different population previously existing on the surface of +the globe. + +29. And thus the uniformitarian is led to consider the facts which +geology brings to light, as indicating a slow and almost imperceptible, +but, upon the whole, constant series of changes, not only in the +position of the earth's materials, but in its animal and vegetable +population. Land becomes sea and sea becomes land; the beds of oceans +are elevated into mountain regions, carrying with them the remains of +their inhabitants; sheets of lava pour from volcanic vents and overwhelm +the seats of life; and these, again, become fields of vegetation; or, it +may be, descend to the depths of the sea, and are overgrown with groves +of coral; lakes are filled with sediment, imbedding the remains of land +animals, and form the museums of future zoologists; the deltas of mighty +rivers become the centres of continents, and are excavated as +coal-fields by men in remote ages. And yet all this time, so slow is the +change, that man is unaware such changes are going on. He knows that the +mountains of Scandinavia are rising out of the Baltic at the rate of a +few feet in a century; he knows that the fertile slope of Etna has been +growing for thousands of years by the addition of lava streams and +parasitic volcanos; he knows that the delta of the Mississippi +accumulates hundreds of miles of vegetable matter every generation; he +knows that the shores of Europe are yielding to the sea; but all these +appear to him minute items, not worth summing; infinitesimal quantities, +which he cannot integrate. And so, in truth, they are, for him. His +ephemeral existence does not allow him to form a just conception, in any +ordinary state of mind, of the effects of this constant agency of +change, working through countless thousands of years. But Time, +inexhausted and unremitting, sums the series, integrates the formula of +change; and thus passes, with sure though noiseless progress, from one +geological epoch to another. + +30. And in the meanwhile, to complete the view thus taken by the +uniformitarian of the geological history of the earth, by some constant +but inscrutable law, creative agency is perpetually at work, to +introduce, into this progressive system of things, new species of +vegetable and animal life. Organic forms, ever and ever new ones, are +brought into being, and left, visible footsteps, as it were, of the +progress which Time has made;--marks placed between the rocky leaves of +the book of creation; by which man, when his time comes, may turn back +and read the past history of his habitation. But the point for us to +remark is, the immeasurable, the inconceivable length of time, if any +length of time could be inconceivable, which is required of our +thoughts, by this new assumption of the constant production of new +species, as a law of creation. We might feel ourselves well nigh +overwhelmed, when, by looking at processes which we see producing only a +few feet of height or breadth or depth during the life of man, we are +called upon to imagine the construction of Alps and Andes,--when we have +to imagine a world made a few inches in a century. But there, at least, +we had _something_ to start from: the element of change was small, but +there _was_ an element of change: we had to expand, but we had not to +originate. But in conceiving that all the myriads of successive species, +which we find in the earth's strata, have come into being by a law which +is now operating, we have _nothing_ to start from. We have seen, and +know of, no such change; all sober and skilful naturalists reject it, as +a fact not belonging to our time. We have here to build a theory without +materials;--to sum a series of which every term, so far as we know, is +nothing;--to introduce into our scientific reasonings an assumption +contrary to all scientific knowledge. + +31. This appears to me to be the real character of the assumption of +the constant creation of new species. But, as I have said, it is not my +business here, to pronounce upon the value or truth of this assumption. +The only use which I wish to make of it is this:--If any persons, who +have adopted the geological view which I have just been explaining, +should feel any interest in the speculations here offered to their +notice, they must needs be (as I have no doubt they will be) even more +willing than other geologists, to grant to our argument a scale of time +for geological succession, corresponding in magnitude to the scale of +distances which astronomy teaches us, as those which measure the +relation of the universe to the earth. + +This being supposed to be granted, I am prepared to proceed with my +argument. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE ARGUMENT FROM GEOLOGY. + + +1. I have endeavored to explain that, according to the discoveries of +geologists, the masses of which the surface of the earth is composed, +exhibit indisputable evidence that, at different successive periods, the +land and the waters which occupy it, have been inhabited by successive +races of plants and animals; which, when taken in large groups, +according to the ascending or descending order of the strata, consist of +species different from those above and below them. Many of these groups +of species are of forms so different from any living things which now +exist, as to give to the life of those ancient periods an aspect +strangely diverse from that which life now displays, and to transfer us, +in thought, to a creation remote in its predominant forms from that +among which we live. I have shown also, that the life and successive +generations of these groups of species, and the events by which the +rocks which contain these remains have been brought into their present +situation and condition, must have occupied immense intervals of +time;--intervals so large that they deserve to be compared, in their +numerical expression, with the intervals of space which separate the +planets and stars from each other. It has been seen, also, that the best +geologists and natural historians have not been able to devise any +hypothesis to account for the successive introduction of these new +species into the earth's population; except the exercise of a series of +acts of creation, by which they have been brought into being; either in +groups at once, or in a perpetual succession of one or a few species, +which the course of long intervals of time might accumulate into groups +of species. It is true, that some speculators have held that by the +agency of natural causes, such as operate upon organic forms, one +species might be transmuted into another; external conditions of +climate, food, and the like, being supposed to conspire with internal +impulses and tendencies, so as to produce this effect. This supposition +is, however, on a more exact examination of the laws of animal life, +found to be destitute of proof; and the doctrine of the successive +creation of species remains firmly established among geologists. That +the _extinction_ of species, and of groups of species, may be accounted +for by natural causes, is a proposition much more plausible, and to a +certain extent, probable; for we have good reason to believe that, even +within the time of human history, some few species have ceased to exist +upon the earth. But whether the extinction of such vast groups of +species as the ancient strata present to our notice, can be accounted +for in this way, at least without assuming the occurrence of great +catastrophes, which must for a time, have destroyed all forms of life in +the district in which they occurred, appears to be more doubtful. The +decision of these questions, however, is not essential to our purpose. +What is important is, that immense numbers of tribes of animals have +tenanted the earth for countless ages, before the present state of +things began to be. + +2. The present state of things is that to which the existence and the +history of MAN belong; and the remark which I now have to make is, that +the existence and the history of Man are facts of an entirely different +order from any which existed in any of the previous states of the earth; +and that this history has occupied a series of years which, compared +with geological periods, may be regarded as very brief and limited. + +3. The remains of man are nowhere found in the strata which contain the +records of former states of the earth. Skeletons of vast varieties of +creatures have been disinterred from their rocky tombs; but these +cemeteries of nature supply no portion of a human skeleton. In earlier +periods of natural science, when comparative anatomy was as yet very +imperfectly understood, no doubt, many fossil bones were supposed to be +human bones. The remains of giants and of antediluvians were frequent in +museums. But a further knowledge of anatomy has made it appear that such +bones all belong to animals, of one kind or another; often, to animals +utterly different, in their form and skeleton, from man. Also some +bones, really human, have been found petrified in situations in which +petrification has gone on in recent times, and is still going on. Human +skeletons, imbedded in rocks by this process, have been found in the +island of Guadaloupe, and elsewhere. But this phenomenon is easily +distinguishable from the petrified bones of other animals, which are +found in rocks belonging to really geological periods; and does not at +all obliterate the distinction between the geological and the historical +periods. + +4. Indeed not bones only, but objects of art, produced by human +workmanship, are found fossilized and petrified by the like processes; +and these, of course, belong to the historical period. Human bones, and +human works, are found in such deposits as morasses, sand-banks, +lava-streams, mounds of volcanic ashes; and many of them may be of +unknown, and, compared with the duration of a few generations, of very +great antiquity; but such deposits are distinguishable, generally +without difficulty, from the strata in which the geologist reads the +records of former creations. It has been truly said, that the geologist +is an _Antiquary_; for, like the antiquary, he traces a past condition +of things in the remains and effects of it which still subsist; but it +has also been truly said, at the same time, that he is an antiquary _of +a new Order_; for the remains which he studies are those which +illustrate the history of the earth, not of man. The geologist's +antiquity is not that of ornaments and arms, utensils and habiliments, +walls and mounds; but of species and of genera, of seas and of +mountains. It is true, that the geologist may have to study the works of +man, in order to trace the effects of causes which produce the results +which he investigates; as when he examines the pholad-pierced pillars of +Pateoli, to prove the rise and the fall of the ground on which they +stand; or notes the anchoring-rings in the wall of some Roman edifice, +once a maritime fort, but now a ruin remote from the sea; or when he +remarks the streets in the towns of Scania, which are now below the +level of the Baltic,[1] and therefore show that the land has sunk since +these pavements were laid. But in studying such objects, the geologist +considers the hand of man as only one among many agencies. Man is to him +only one of the natural causes of change. + +5. And if, with the illustrious author to whom we have just referred,[2] +we liken the fossil remains, by which the geologist determines the age +of his strata, to the Medals and Coins in which the antiquary finds the +record of reigns and dynasties; we must still recollect that a _Coin_ +really discloses a vast body of characteristics of man, to which there +is nothing approaching in the previous condition of the world. For how +much does a Coin or Medal indicate? Property; exchange; government; a +standard of value; the arts of mining, assaying, coining, drawing, and +sculpture; language, writing, and reckoning; historical recollections, +and the wish to be remembered by future ages. All this is involved in +that small human work, a Coin. If the fossil remains of animals may (as +has been said) be termed Medals struck by Nature to record the epochs of +her history; Medals must be said to be, not merely, like fossil remains, +records of material things; they are the records of thought, purpose, +society, long continued, long improved, supplied with multiplied aids +and helps; they are the permanent results, in a minute compass, of a +vast progress, extending through all the ramifications of human life. + +6. Not a coin merely, but any, the rudest work of human art, carries us +far beyond the domain of mere animal life. There is no transition from +man to animals. No doubt, there are races of men very degraded, +barbarous, and brutish. No doubt there are kinds of animals which are +very intelligent and sagacious; and some which are exceedingly disposed +to and adapted to companionship with man. But by elevating the +intelligence of the brute, we do not make it become the intelligence of +the man. By making man barbarous, we do not make him cease to be a man. +Animals have their especial capacities, which may be carried very far, +and may approach near to human sagacity, or may even go beyond it; but +the capacity of man is of a different kind. It is a capacity, not for +becoming sagacious, but for becoming rational; or rather it is a +capacity which he has in virtue of being rational. It is a capacity of +progress. In animals, however sagacious, however well trained, the +progress in skill and knowledge is limited, and very narrowly limited. +The creature soon reaches a boundary, beyond which it cannot pass; and +even if the acquired habits be transmitted by descent to another +generation, (which happens in the case of dogs and several other +animals,) still the race soon comes to a stand in its accomplishments. +But in man, the possible progress from generation to generation, in +intelligence and knowledge, and we may also say, in power, is +indefinite; or if this be doubted, it is at least so vast, that compared +with animals, his capacity is infinite. And this capacity extends to all +races of men its characterizing efficacy: for we have good reason to +believe that there is no race of human beings who may not, by a due +course of culture, continued through generations, be brought into a +community of intelligence and power with the most intelligent and the +most powerful races. This seems to be well established, for instance, +with regard to the African negroes; so long regarded by most, by some +probably regarded still, as a race inferior to Europeans. It has been +found that they are abundantly capable of taking a share in the arts, +literature, morality and religion of European peoples. And we cannot +doubt that, in the same manner, the native Australians, or the Bushmen +of the Cape of Good Hope, have human faculties and human capacities; +however difficult it might be to unfold these, in one or two +generations, into a form of intelligence and civilization in any +considerable degree resembling our own. + +7. It is not requisite for us, and it might lead to unnecessary +difficulties, to fix upon any one attribute of man, as peculiarly +characteristic, and distinguishing him from brutes. Yet it would not be +too much to say that man is, in truth, universally and specifically +characterized by the possession of _Language_. It will not be questioned +that language, in its highest forms, is a wonderful vehicle and a +striking evidence of the intelligence of man. His bodily organs can, by +a few scarcely perceptible motions, shape the air into sounds which +express the kinds, properties, actions and relations of things, under +thousands of aspects, in forms infinitely more general and recondite +than those in which they present themselves to his senses;--and he can, +by means of these forms, aided by the use of his senses, explore the +boundless regions of space, the far recesses of past time, the order of +nature, the working of the Author of nature. This man does, by the +exercise of his Reason, and by the use of Language, a necessary +implement of his Reason for such purposes. + +8. That language, in such a stage, is a special character of man, will +not be doubted. But it may be thought, there is little resemblance +between Language in this exalted degree of perfection, and the seemingly +senseless gibberish of the most barbarous tribes. Such an opinion, +however, might easily be carried too far. All human language has in it +the elements of indefinite intellectual activity, and the germs of +indefinite development. Even the rudest kind of speech, used by savages, +denotes objects by their kinds, their attributes, their relations, with +a degree of generality derived from the intellect, not from the senses. +The generality may be very limited; the relations which the human +intellect is capable of apprehending may be imperfectly conveyed. But to +denote kinds and attributes and actions and relations _at all_, is a +beginning of generalization and abstraction;--or rather, is far more +than a beginning. It is the work of a faculty which can generalize and +abstract; and these mental processes once begun, the field of progress +which is open to them is indefinite. Undoubtedly it may happen that weak +and barbarous tribes are, for many generations, so hard pressed by +circumstances, and their faculties so entirely absorbed in providing for +the bare wants of the poorest life, that their thoughts may never travel +to anything beyond these, and their language may not be extended so as +to be applicable to any other purposes. But this is not the standard +condition of mankind. It is not, by such cases, that man, or that human +nature, is to be judged. The normal condition of man is one of an +advance beyond the mere means of subsistence, to the arts of life, and +the exercise of thought in a general form. To some extent, such an +advance has taken place in almost every region of the earth and in every +age. + +9. Perhaps we may often have a tendency to think more meanly than they +deserve, of so-called barbarous tribes, and of those whose intellectual +habits differ much from our own. We may be prone to regard ourselves as +standing at the summit of civilization; and all other nations and ages, +as not only occupying inferior positions, but positions on a slope which +descends till it sinks into the nature of brutes. And yet how little +does an examination of the history of mankind justify this view! The +different stages of civilization, and of intellectual culture, which +have prevailed among them, have had no appearance of belonging to one +single series, in which the cases differed only as higher or lower. On +the contrary, there have been many very different kinds of civilization, +accompanied by different forms of art and of thought; showing how +universally the human mind tends to such habits, and how rich it is in +the modes of manifesting its innate powers. How different have been the +forms of civilization among the Chinese, the Indians, the Egyptians, the +Babylonians, the Mexicans, the Peruvians! Yet in all, how much was +displayed of sagacity and skill, of perseverance and progress, of mental +activity and grasp, of thoughtfulness and power. Are we, in thinking of +these manifestations of human capacity, to think of them as only a stage +between us and brutes? or are we to think so, even of the stoical Red +Indians of North America, or the energetic New Zealanders, and Caffres? +And if not, why of the African Negroes, or the Australians, or the +Bushmen? We may call their Language a jargon. Very probable it would, in +its present form, be unable to express a great deal of what we are in +the habit of putting into language. But can we refuse to believe that, +with regard to matters with which they are familiar, and on occasions +where they are interested, they would be to each other intelligible and +clear? And if we suppose cases in which their affections and emotions +are strongly excited, (and affections and emotions at least we cannot +deny them,) can we not believe that they would be eloquent and +impressive? Do we not know, in fact, that almost all nations which we +call savage, are, on such occasions, eloquent in their own language? And +since this is so, must not their language, after all, be a wonderful +instrument as well as ours? Since it can convey one man's thoughts and +emotions to many, clothed in the form which they assume in his mind; +giving to things, it may be, an aspect quite different from that which +they would have if presented to their own senses; guiding their +conviction, warming their hearts, impelling their purposes;--can +language, even in such cases, be otherwise than a wonderful produce of +man's internal, of his mental, that is, of his peculiarly _human_ +faculties? And is not language, therefore, even in what we regard as its +lowest forms, an endowment which completely separates man from animals +which have no such faculty?--which cannot regard, or which cannot +convey, the impressions of the individual in any such general and +abstract form? Probably we should find, as those who have studied the +language of savages always have found, that every such language contains +a number of curious and subtle practices,--_contrivances_, we cannot +help calling them,--for marking the relations, bearings and connections +of words; contrivances quite different from those of the languages +which we think of as more perfect; but yet, in the mouths of those who +use such speech, answering their purpose with great precision. But +without going into such details, the use of any _articulate_ language +is, as the oldest Greeks spoke of it, a special and complete distinction +of man as man. + +10. It would be an obscure and useless labor, to speculate upon the +question whether animals have among themselves anything which can +properly be called _Language_. That they have anything which can be +termed Language, in the sense in which we here speak of it, as admitting +of general expressions, abstractions, address to numbers, eloquence, is +utterly at variance with any interpretation which we can put upon their +proceedings. The broad distinction of Instinct and Reason, however +obscure it may be, yet seems to be most simply described, by saying, +that animals do not apprehend their impressions under general forms, and +that man does. Resemblance, and consequent association of impressions, +may often show like generalization; but yet it is different. There is, +in man's mind, a germ of general thoughts, suggested by resemblances, +which is evolved and fixed in language; and by the aid of such an +addition to the impressions of sense, man has thousands of intellectual +pathways from object to object, from effect to cause, from fact to +inference. His impressions are projected on a sphere of thought of which +the radii can be prolonged into the farthest regions of the universe. +Animals, on the contrary, are shut up in their sphere of +sensation,--passing from one impression to another by various +associations, established by circumstances; but still, having access to +no wider intellectual region, through which lie lines of transition +purely abstract and mental. That they have their modes of communicating +their impressions and associations, their affections and emotions, we +know; but these modes of communication do not make a language; nor do +they disturb the assignment of Language as a special character of man; +nor the belief that man differs in his Kind, and we may say, using a +larger phrase, in his Order, from all other creatures. + +11. We may sometimes be led to assign much of the development of man's +peculiar powers, to the influence of external circumstances. And that +the development of those powers is so influenced, we cannot doubt; but +their development only, not their existence. We have already said that +savages, living a precarious and miserable life, occupied incessantly +with providing for their mere bodily wants, are not likely to possess +language, or any other characteristic of humanity, in any but a stunted +and imperfect form. But, that manhood is debased and degraded under such +adverse conditions, does not make man cease to be man. Even from such an +abject race, if a child be taken and brought up among the comforts and +means of development which civilized life supplies, he does not fail to +show that he possesses, perhaps in an eminent degree, the powers which +specially belong to man. The evidences of human tendencies, human +thoughts, human capacities, human affections and sympathies, appear +conspicuously, in cases in which there has been no time for external +circumstances to operate in any great degree, so as to unfold any +difference between the man and the brute; or in which the influence of +the most general of external agencies, the impressions of several of the +senses, have been intercepted. Who that sees a lively child, looking +with eager and curious eyes at every object, uttering cries that express +every variety of elementary human emotion in the most vivacious manner, +exchanging looks and gestures, and inarticulate sounds, with his nurse, +can doubt that already he possesses the germs of human feeling, thought +and knowledge? that already, before he can form or understand a single +articulate word, he has within him the materials of an infinite +exuberance of utterance, and an impulse to find the language into which +such utterance is to be moulded by the law of his human nature? And +perhaps it may have happened to others, as it has to me, to know a child +who had been both deaf, dumb, and blind, from a very early age. Yet she, +as years went on, disclosed a perpetually growing sympathy with the +other children of the family in all their actions, with which of course +she could only acquaint herself by the sense of touch. She sat, dressed, +walked, as they did; even imitated them in holding a book in her hand +when they read, and in kneeling when they prayed. No one could look at +the change which came over her sightless countenance, when a known hand +touched hers, and doubt that there was a human soul within the frame. +The human soul seemed not only to be there, but to have been fully +developed; though the means by which it could receive such +communications as generally constitute human education, were thus cut +off. And such modes of communication with her companions as had been +taught her, or as she had herself invented, well bore out the belief, +that her mind was the constant dwelling-place, not only of human +affections, but of human thoughts. So plainly does it appear that human +thought is not produced or occasioned by external circumstances only; +but has a special and indestructible germ in human nature. + +12. I have been endeavoring to illustrate the doctrine that man's nature +is different from the nature of other animals; as subsidiary to the +doctrine that the Human Epoch of the earth's history is different from +all the preceding Epochs. But in truth, this subsidiary proposition is +not by any means necessary to my main purpose. Even if barbarous and +savage tribes, even if men under unfavorable circumstances, be little +better than the brutes, still no one will doubt that the most civilized +races of mankind, that man under the most favorable circumstances, is +far, is, indeed, immeasurably elevated above the brutes. The history of +man includes not only the history of Scythians and Barbarians, +Australians and Negroes, but of ancient Greeks and of modern Europeans; +and therefore there can be no doubt that the period of the Earth's +history, which includes the history of man, is very different indeed +from any period which preceded that. To illustrate the peculiarity, the +elevation, the dignity, the wonderful endowments of man, we might refer +to the achievements, the recorded thoughts and actions, of the most +eminent among those nations;--to their arts, their poetry, their +eloquence; their philosophers, their mathematicians, their astronomers; +to the acts of virtue and devotion, of patriotism, generosity, +obedience, truthfulness, love, which took place among them;--to their +piety, their reverence for the deity, their resignation to his will, +their hope of immortality. Such characteristic traits of man as man, +(which all examples of intelligence, virtue, and religion, are,) might +serve to show that man is, in a sense quite different from other +creatures, "fearfully and wonderfully made;" but I need not go into such +details. It is sufficient for my purpose to sum up the result in the +expressions which I have already used; that man is an intellectual, +moral, religious, and spiritual being. + +13. But the existence of man upon the earth being thus an event of an +order quite different from any previous part of the earth's history, the +question occurs, how long has this state of things endured? What period +has elapsed since this creature, with these high powers and faculties, +was placed upon the earth? How far must we go backward in time, to find +the beginning of his wonderful history?--so utterly wonderful compared +with anything which had previously occurred. For as to that point, we +cannot feel any doubt. The wildest imagination cannot suggest that +corals and madrepores, oysters and sepias, fishes and lizards, may have +been rational and moral creatures; nor even those creatures which come +nearer to human organization; megatheriums and mastodons, extinct deer +and elephants. Undoubtedly the earth, till the existence of man, was a +world of mere brute creatures. How long then has it been otherwise? How +long has it been the habitation of a rational, reflective, progressive +race? Can we by any evidence, geological or other, approximate to the +beginning of the Human History? + +14. This is a large and curious question, and one on which a precise +answer may not be within our reach. But an answer not precise, an +approximation, as we have suggested, may suffice for our purpose. If we +can determine, in some measure, the order and scale of the period during +which man has occupied the earth, the determination may serve to support +the analogy which we wish to establish. + +15. The geological evidence with regard to the existence of man is +altogether negative. Previous to the deposits and changes which we can +trace as belonging obviously to the present state of the earth's +surface, and the operation of causes now existing, there is no vestige +of the existence of man, or of his works. As was long ago observed,[3] +we do not find, among the shells and bones which are so abundant in the +older strata, any weapons, medals, implements, structures, which speak +to us of the hand of man, the workman. If we look forwards ten or twenty +thousand years, and suppose the existing works of man to have been, by +that time, ruined and covered up by masses of rubbish, inundations, +morasses, lava-streams, earthquakes; still, when the future inhabitant +of the earth digs into and explores these coverings, he will discover +innumerable monuments that man existed so long ago. The materials of +many of his works, and the traces of his own mind, which he stamps upon +them, are as indestructible as the shells and bones which give language +to the oldest work. Indeed, in many cases the oldest fossil remains are +the results of objects of seemingly the most frail and perishable +material;--of the most delicate and tender animal and vegetable tissues +and filaments. That no such remains of textures and forms, moulded by +the hand of man, are anywhere found among these, must be accepted as +indisputable evidence that man did not exist, so as to be contemporary +with the plants and animals thus commemorated. According to geological +evidence, the race of man is a novelty upon the earth;--something which +has succeeded to all the great geological changes. + +16. And in this, almost all geologists are agreed. Even those who hold +that, in other ways, the course of change has been uniform;--that even +the introduction of man, as a new species of animal, is only an event of +the same kind as myriads of like events which have occurred in the +history of the earth;--still allow that the introduction of man, as a +moral being, is an event entirely different from any which had taken +place before; and that event is, geologically speaking, recent. The +changes of which we have spoken, as studied by the geologist in +connection with the works of man, the destruction of buildings on +sea-coasts by the incursions of the ocean, the removal of the shore many +miles away from ancient harbors, the overwhelming of cities by +earthquakes or volcanic eruptions; however great when compared with the +changes which take place in one or two generations; are minute and +infinitesimal, when put in comparison with the changes by which ranges +of mountains and continents have been brought into being, one after +another, each of them filled with the remains of different organic +creations. + +17. Further than this, geology does not go on this question. She has no +chronometer which can tell us when the first buildings were erected, +when man first dwelt in cities, first used implements or arms; still +less, language and reflection. Geology is compelled to give over the +question to History. The external evidences of the antiquity of the +species fail us, and we must have recourse to the internal. Nature can +tell us so little of the age of man, that we must inquire what he can +tell us himself. + +18. What man can tell us of his own age--what history can say of the +beginning of history--is necessarily very obscure and imperfect. We know +how difficult it is to trace to its origin the History of any single +Nation: how much more, the History of all Nations! We know that all such +particular histories carry us back to periods of the migrations of +tribes, confused mixtures of populations, perplexed and contradictory +genealogies of races; and as we follow these further and further +backwards, they become more and more obscure and uncertain; at least in +the histories which remain to us of most nations. Still, the obscurity +is not such as to lead us to the conviction that research is useless and +unprofitable. It is an obscurity such as naturally arises from the lapse +of time, and the complexity of the subject. The aspect of the world, +however far we go back, is still historical and human; historical and +human, in as high a degree, as it is at the present day. Men, as +described in the records of the oldest times, are of the same nature, +act with the same views, are governed by the same motives, as at +present. At all points, we see thought, purpose, law, religion, +progress. If we do not find a beginning, we find at least evidence that, +in approaching the beginning, the condition of man does not, in any way, +cease to be that of an intellectual, moral, and religious creature. + +19. There are, indeed, some histories which speak to us of the beginning +of man's existence upon earth; and one such history in particular, which +comes to us recommended by indisputable evidence of its own great +antiquity, by numerous and striking confirmations from other histories, +and from facts still current, and by its connection with that religious +view of man's condition, which appears to thoughtful men to be +absolutely requisite to give a meaning and purpose to man's faculties +and endowments. I speak, of course, of the Hebrew Scriptures. This +history professes to inform us how man was placed upon the earth; and +how, from one centre, the human family spread itself in various branches +into all parts of the world. This genealogy of the human race is +accompanied by a chronology, from which it results that the antiquity of +the human race does not exceed a few thousand years. Even if we accept +this history as true and authoritative, it would not be wise to be +rigidly tenacious of the chronology, as to its minute exactness. For, in +the first place, of three different forms in which this history appears, +the chronology is different in all the three: I mean the Hebrew, the +Samaritan, and the Septuagint versions of the Old Testament. And even if +this were not so, since this chronology is put in the form of +genealogies, of which many of the steps may very probably have a meaning +different from the simple succession of generations in a family, (as +some of them certainly have,) it would be unwise to consider ourselves +bound to the exact number of years stated, in any of the three versions, +or even in all. It makes no difference to our argument, nor to any, +purpose in which we can suppose this narrative to have a bearing, +whether we accept six thousand or ten thousand years, or even a longer +period, as the interval which has now elapsed since the creation of man +took place, and the peopling of the earth began. + +20. And, in our speculations at least, it will be well for us to take +into account the view which is given us of the antiquity of the human +race, by other histories as well as by this. A satisfactory result of +such an investigation would be attained if, looking at all these +histories, weighing their value, interpreting their expressions fairly, +discovering their sources of error, and of misrepresentation, we should +find them all converge to one point; all give a consistent and +harmonious view of the earliest stages of man's history; of the times +and places in which he first appeared as man. If all nations of men are +branches of the same family, it cannot but interest us, to find all the +family traditions tending upwards towards the same quarter; indicating a +divergence from the same point; exhibiting a recollection of the +original domicile, or of the same original family circle. + +21. To a certain extent at least, this appears to be the result of the +historical investigations which have been pursued relative to this +subject. A certain group of nations is brought before us by these +researches which, a few thousands of years ago, were possessed of arts, +and manners, and habits, and belief, which make them conspicuous, and +which we can easily believe to have been contemporaneous successors of a +common, though, it may be even then, remote stock. Such are the Jews, +Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. The histories of these nations are +connected with and confirm each other. Their languages, or most of them, +have certain affinities, which glossologists, on independent grounds, +have regarded as affinities implying an original connection. Their +chronologies, though in many respects discrepant, are not incapable of +being reduced into an harmony by very probable suppositions. Here we +have a very early view of the condition of a portion of the earth as the +habitation of man, and perhaps a suggestion of a condition earlier +still. + +22. It is true, that there are other nations also, which claim an +antiquity for their civilization equal to or greater than that which we +can ascribe to these. Such are the Indians and the Chinese. But while we +do not question that these nations were at a remote period in possession +of arts, knowledge, and regular polity, in a very eminent degree, we are +not at all called upon to assent to the immense numbers, tens of +thousands and hundreds of thousands of years, by which such nations, in +their histories, express their antiquity. For, in the first place, such +numbers are easily devised and transferred to the obscure early stages +of tradition, when the art of numeration is once become familiar. These +vast intervals, applied to series of blank genealogies, or idle fables, +gratify the popular appetite for numerical wonders, but have little +claim on critical conviction. + +23. And in the next place, we discover that not enumeration only, but a +more recondite art, had a great share in the fabrication of these +gigantic numbers of years. Some of the nations of whom we have thus +spoken, the Indians, for example, had, at an early period, possessed +themselves of a large share of astronomical knowledge. They had observed +and examined the motions of the Sun, the Moon, the Planets, and the +Stars, till they had discovered Cycles, in which, after long and +seemingly irregular wanderings in the skies, the heavenly bodies came +round again to known and regular positions. They had thus detected the +order that reigns in the seeming disorder; and had, by this means, +enabled themselves to know beforehand when certain astronomical events +would occur; certain configurations of the Planets, for instance, and +eclipses; and knowing how such events would occur in future, they were +also able to calculate how the like events had occurred in the past. +They could thus determine what eclipses and what planetary +configurations had occurred, in thousands and tens of thousands of years +of past time; and could, if they were disposed to falsify their early +histories, and to confirm the falsification by astronomical evidence, do +so with a very near approximation to astronomical truth. Such +astronomical confirmation of their assertions, so incapable in any +common apprehension of being derived from any other source than actual +observation of the fact, naturally produced a great effect upon common +minds; and still more, on those who examined the astronomical fact, +enough only to see that it was, approximately, at least, true. But in +recent times the fallacy of this evidence has been shown, and the +fabrication detected. For though the astronomical rules which they had +devised were approximately true, they were true approximately only. The +more exact researches of modern European astronomy discovered that their +cycles, though nearly exact, were not quite so. There was in them an +error which made the cycle, at every revolution of its period, when it +was applied to past ages, more and more wrong; so that the astronomical +events which they asserted to have happened, as they had calculated that +they would have happened, the better informed astronomer of our day +knows would not have happened exactly so, but in a manner differing more +and more from their statement, as the event was more and more remote. +And thus the fact which they asserted to have been observed, had not +really happened; and the confirmation, which it had been supposed to +lend to their history, disappeared. And thus, there is not, in the +asserted antiquity of Indian civilization and Indian astronomy, anything +which has a well-founded claim to disturb our belief that the nations of +the more western regions of Asia had a civilization as ancient as +theirs. And considerations of nearly the same kind may be applied to the +very remote astronomical facts which are recorded as having been +observed in the history of some others of the ancient nations above +mentioned. + +24. Still less need we be disturbed by the long series of dynasties, +each occupying a large period of years, which the Egyptians are said to +have inserted in their early history, so as to carry their origin beyond +the earliest times which I have mentioned. If they spoke of the Greek +nations as children compared with their own long-continued age, as Plato +says they did, a few thousands of years of previous existence would well +entitle them to do so. So far as such a period goes, their monuments and +their hieroglyphical inscriptions give a reality to their pretensions, +which we may very willingly grant. And even the history of the Jews +supposes that the Egyptians had attained a high point in arts, +government, knowledge, when Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, +was still leading the life of a nomad. But this supposition is not +inconsistent with the account which the Jewish Scriptures give, of the +origin of nations; especially if, as we have said, we abstain from any +rigid and narrow interpretation of the chronology of those scriptures; +as on every ground, it is prudent to do. + +25. It appears then not unreasonable to believe, that a very few +thousands, or even a few hundreds of years before the time of Abraham, +the nations of central and western Asia offer to us the oldest aspect of +the life of man upon the earth; and that in reasoning concerning the +antiquity of the human race, we may suppose that at that period, he was +in the earliest stages of his existence. Although, in truth, if we were +to accept the antiquity claimed by the Egyptians, the Indians, or the +Chinese, the nature of our argument would not be materially altered; for +ten thousand, or even twenty thousand years, bears a very small +proportion to the periods of time which geology requires for the +revolutions which she describes; and, as I have said, we have geological +evidence also, to show how brief the human period has been, when +compared with the period which preceded the existence of man. And if +this be so; if such peoples as those who have left to us the monuments +of Egypt and of Assyria, the pyramids and ancient Thebes, the walls of +Nineveh and Babylon, were the first nations which lived as nations; or +if they were separated from such only by the interval by which the +Germans of to-day are separated from the Germans of Tacitus; we may well +repeat our remark, that the history of man, in the earliest times, is as +truly a history of a wonderful, intellectual, social, political, +spiritual creature, as it is at present. We see, in the monuments of +those periods, evidences so great and so full of skill, that even now, +they amaze us, of arts, government, property, thought, the love of +beauty, the recognition of deity; evidences of memory, foresight, power. +If London or Berlin were now destroyed, overwhelmed, and, four thousand +years hence, disinterred, these cities would not afford stronger +testimony of those attributes, as existing in modern Europeans, than we +have of such qualities in the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians. The +history of man, as that of a creature pre-eminent in the creation, is +equally such, however far back we carry our researches. + +26. Nor is there anything to disturb this view, in the fact of the +existence of the uncultured and barbarous tribes which occupy, and +always have occupied, a large portion of the earth's surface. For, in +the first place, there is not, in the aspect of the fact, or in the +information which history gives us, any reason to believe that such +tribes exhibit a form of human existence, which, in the natural order of +progress, is earlier than the forms of civilized life, of which we have +spoken. The opinion that the most savage kind of human life, least +acquainted with arts, and least provided with resources, is the state of +nature out of which civilized life has everywhere gradually emerged, is +an opinion which, though at one time popular, is unsupported by proof, +and contrary to probability.[4] Savage tribes do not so grow into +civilization; their condition is, far more probably, a condition of +civilization degraded and lost, than of civilization incipient and +prospective. Add to this, that if we were to assume that this were +otherwise; if man thus originally and naturally savage, did also +naturally tend to become civilized; this _tendency_ is an endowment no +less wonderful, than those endowments which civilization exhibits. The +capacity is as extraordinary as the developed result; for the capacity +involves the result. If savage man be the germ of the most highly +civilized man, he differs from all other animal germs, as man differs +from brute. And add to this again, that in the tribes which we call +savage, and whose condition most differs, in external circumstances, +from ours, there are, after all, a vast mass of human attributes: +thought, purpose, language, family relations; generally property, law, +government, contract, arts, and knowledge, to no small extent; and in +almost every case, religion. Even uncivilized man is an intellectual, +moral, social, religious creature; nor is there, in his condition, any +reason why he may not be a spiritual creature, in the highest sense in +which the most civilized man can be so. + +27. Here then we are brought to the view which, it would seem, offers a +complete reply to the difficulty, which astronomical discoveries +appeared to place in the way of religion:--the difficulty of the opinion +that man, occupying this speck of earth, which is but as an atom in the +Universe, surrounded by millions of other globes, larger, and, to +appearance, nobler than that which he inhabits, should be the object of +the peculiar care and guardianship, of the favor and government, of the +Creator of All, in the way in which Religion teaches us that He is. For +we find that man, (the human race, from its first origin till now,) has +occupied but an atom of time, as he has occupied but an atom of +space:--that as he is surrounded by myriads of globes which may, like +this, be the habitations of living things, so he has been preceded, on +this earth, by myriads of generations of living things, not possibly or +probably only, but certainly; and yet that, comparing his history with +theirs, he has been, certainly has been fitted to be, the object of the +care and guardianship, of the favor and government, of the Master and +Governor of All, in a manner entirely different from anything which it +is possible to believe with regard to the countless generations of brute +creatures which had gone before him. If we will doubt or overlook the +difference between man and brutes, the difficulty of ascribing to man +peculiar privileges, is made as great by the revelations of geology, as +of astronomy. The scale of man's insignificance is, as we have said, of +the same order in reference to time, as to space. There is nothing +which at all goes beyond the magnitude which observation and reasoning +suggest for geological periods, in supposing that the tertiary strata +occupied, in their deposition and elevation, a period as much greater +than the period of human history, as the solar system is larger than the +earth:--that the secondary strata were as much longer than these in +their formation, as the nearest fixed star is more distant than the +sun:--that the still earlier masses, call them primary, or protozoic, or +what we will, did, in their production, extend through a period of time +as vast, compared with the secondary period, as the most distant nebula +is remoter than the nearest star. If the earth, as the habitation of +man, is a speck in the midst of an infinity of space, the earth, as the +habitation of man, is also a speck at the end of an infinity of time. If +we are as nothing in the surrounding universe, we are as nothing in the +elapsed eternity; or rather, in the elapsed organic antiquity, during +which the earth has existed and been the abode of life. If man is but +one small family in the midst of innumerable possible households, he is +also but one small family, the successor of innumerable tribes of +animals, not possible only, but actual. If the planets _may_ be the +seats of life, we know that the seas which have given birth to our +mountains _were_ the seats of life. If the stars may have hundreds of +systems of tenanted planets rolling round them, we know that the +secondary group of rocks does contain hundreds of tenanted beds, +witnessing of as many systems of organic creation. If the nebulæ may be +planetary systems in the course of formation, we know that the primary +and transition rocks either show us the earth in the course of +formation, as the future seat of life, or exhibit such life as already +begun. + +28. How far that which astronomy thus asserts as possible, is +probable:--what is the value of these possibilities of life in distant +regions of the universe, we shall hereafter consider. But in what +geology asserts, the case is clear. It is no possibility, but a +certainty. No one will now doubt that shells and skeletons, trunks and +leaves, prove animal and vegetable life to have existed. Even, +therefore, if Astronomy could demonstrate all that her most fanciful +disciples assume, Geology would still have a complete right to claim an +equal hearing;--to insist upon having her analogies regarded. She would +have a right to answer the questions of Astronomy, when she says, How +can we believe this? and to have her answers accepted. + +29. Astronomy claims a sort of dignity over all other sciences, from her +_antiquity_, her _certainty_, and the _vastness_ of her discoveries. But +the antiquity of astronomy as a science had no share in such +speculations as we are discussing; and if it had had, new truths are +better than old conjectures; new discoveries must rectify old errors; +new answers must remove old difficulties. The vigorous youth of Geology +makes her fearless of the age of Astronomy. And as to the certainty of +Astronomy, it has just as little to do with these speculations. The +certainty stops, just when these speculations begin. There may, indeed, +be some danger of delusion on this subject. Men have been so long +accustomed to look upon astronomical science as the mother of +certainty, that they may confound astronomical discoveries with +cosmological conjectures; though these be slightly and illogically +connected with those. And then, as to the vastness of astronomical +discoveries,--granting that character, inasmuch as it is to a certain +degree, a matter of measurement,--we must observe, that the discoveries +of geology are no less vast: they extend through time, as those of +astronomy do through space. They carry us through millions of years, +that is, of the earth's revolutions, as those of astronomy do through +millions of the earth's diameters, or of diameters of the earth's orbit. +Geology fills the regions of duration with events, as astronomy fills +the regions of the universe with objects. She carries us backwards by +the relation of cause and effect, as astronomy carries us upwards by the +relations of geometry. As astronomy steps on from point to point of the +universe by a chain of triangles, so geology steps from epoch to epoch +of the earth's history by a chain of mechanical and organical laws. If +the one depends on the axioms of geometry, the other depends on the +axioms of causation. + +30. So far then, Geology has no need to regard Astronomy as her +superior; and least of all, when they apply themselves together to +speculations like these. But in truth, in such speculations, Geology has +an immeasurable superiority. She has the command of an implement, in +addition to all that Astronomy can use; and one, for the purpose of such +speculations, adapted far beyond any astronomical element of discovery. +She has, for one of her studies,--one of her means of dealing with her +problems,--the knowledge of Life, animal and vegetable. Vital +organization is a subject of attention which has, in modern times, been +forced upon her. It is now one of the main parts of her discipline. The +geologist must study the traces of life in every form; must learn to +decypher its faintest indications and its fullest development. On the +question, then, whether there be in this or that quarter, evidence of +life, he can speak with the confidence derived from familiar knowledge; +while the astronomer, to whom such studies are utterly foreign, because +he has no facts which bear upon them, can offer, on such questions, only +the loosest and most arbitrary conjectures; which, as we have had to +remark, have been rebuked by eminent men, as being altogether +inconsistent with the acknowledged maxims of his science. + +31. When, therefore, Geology tells us that the earth, which has been +the seat of human life for a few thousand years only, has been the seat +of animal life for myriads, it may be, millions of years, she has a +right to offer this, as an answer to any difficulty which Astronomy, or +the readers of astronomical books, may suggest, derived from the +considerations that the Earth, the seat of human life, is but one globe +of a few thousand miles in diameter, among millions of other globes, at +distances millions of times as great. + +32. Let the difficulty be put in any way the objector pleases. Is it +that it is unworthy of the greatness and majesty of God, according to +our conceptions of Him, to bestow such peculiar care on so small a part +of His creation? But we know, from geology, that He has bestowed upon +this small part of His creation, mankind, this special care;--He has +made their period, though only a moment in the ages of animal life, the +only period of intelligence, morality, religion. If then, to suppose +that He has done this, is contrary to our conceptions of His greatness +and majesty, it is plain that our conceptions are erroneous; they have +taken a wrong direction. God has not judged, as to what is worthy of +Him, as we have judged. He has found it worthy of Him to bestow upon man +His special care, though he occupies so small a portion of time; and why +not, then, although he occupies so small a portion of space? + +33. Or is the objection this; that if we suppose the earth only to be +occupied by inhabitants, all the other globes of the universe are +wasted;--turned to no purpose? Is waste of this kind considered as +unsuited to the character of the Creator? But here again, we have the +like waste, in the occupation of the earth. All its previous ages, its +seas and its continents, have been wasted upon mere brute life; often, +so far as we can see, for myriads of years, upon the lowest, the least +conscious forms of life; upon shell-fish, corals, sponges. Why then +should not the seas and continents of other planets be occupied at +present with a life no higher than this, or with no life at all? Will it +be said that, so far as material objects are occupied by life, they are +not wasted; but that they are wasted, if they are entirely barren and +blank of life? This is a very arbitrary saying. Why should the life of a +sponge, or a coral, or an oyster, be regarded as a good employment of a +spot of land and water, so as to save it from being wasted? No doubt, if +the coral or the oyster be there, there is a reason why it is so, +consistently with the attributes of God. But then, on the same ground, +we may say that if it be not there, there is a reason why it is not so. +Such a mode of regarding the parts of the universe can never give us +reasons why they should or should not be inhabited, when we have no +other grounds for knowing whether they are. If it be a sufficient +employment of a spot of rock or water that it is the seat of +organization--of organic powers; why may it not be a sufficient +employment of the same spot that it is the seat of attraction, of +cohesion, of crystalline powers? All the planets, all parts of the +universe, we have good reason to believe, are pervaded by attraction, by +forces of aggregation and atomic relation, by light and heat. Why may +not these be sufficient to prevent the space being wasted, in the eyes +of the Creator? as, during a great part of the earth's past history, and +over large portions of its present mass, they are actually held by Him +sufficient; for they are all that occupy those portions. This notion, +then, of the improbability of there being, in the universe, so vast an +amount of waste spaces, or waste bodies, as is implied in the opinion +that the earth alone is the seat of life, or of intelligence, is +confuted by the fact, that there are vast spaces, waste districts, and +especially waste times, to an extent as great as such a notion deems +improbable. The avoidance of such waste, according to our notions of +waste, is no part of the economy of creation, so far as we can discern +that economy, in its most certain exemplifications. + +34. Or will the objection be made in this way; that such a peculiar +dignity and importance given to the earth is contrary to the analogy of +creation;--that since there are so many globes, similar to the +earth,--like her, revolving round the sun, like her, revolving on her +axes, several of them, like her, accompanied by satellites; it is +reasonable to suppose that their destination and office is the same as +hers;--that since there are so many stars, each like the sun, a source +of light, and probably of heat, it is reasonable to suppose that, like +the sun, they are the centres of systems of planets, to which their +light and heat are imparted, to uphold life:--is it thought that such a +resemblance is a strong ground for believing that the planets of our +system, and of other systems, are inhabited as the earth is? If such an +astronomical analogy be insisted on, we must again have recourse to +geology, to see what such analogy is worth. And then, we are led to +reflect, that if we were to follow such analogies, we should be led to +suppose that all the successive periods of the earth's history were +occupied with life of the same order; that as the earth, in its present +condition, is the seat of an intelligent population, so must it have +been, in all former conditions. The earth, in its former conditions, was +able and fitted to support life; even the life of creatures closely +resembling man in their bodily structure. Even of monkeys, fossil +remains have been found. But yet, in those former conditions, it did not +support human life. Even those geologists who have dwelt most on the +discovery of fossil monkeys, and other animals nearest to man, have not +dreamt that there existed, before man, a race of rational, intelligent, +and progressive creatures. As we have seen, geology and history alike +refute such a fancy. The notion, then, that one period of time in the +history of the earth must resemble another, in the character of its +population, because it resembles it in physical circumstances, is +negatived by the facts which we discover in the history of the earth. +And so, the notion that one part of the universe must resemble another +in its population, because it resembles it in physical circumstances, is +negatived as a law of creation. Analogy, further examined, affords no +support to such a notion. The analogy of time, the events of which we +know, corrects all such guesses founded on a supposed analogy of space, +the furniture of which, so far as this point is concerned, we have no +sufficient means of examining. + +35. But in truth, we may go further. Not only does the analogy of +creation not point to any such entire resemblance of similar parts, as +is thus assumed, but it points in the opposite direction. Not entire +resemblance, but universal difference is what we discover; not the +repetition of exactly similar cases, but a series of cases perpetually +dissimilar, presents itself; not constancy, but change, perhaps advance; +not one permanent and pervading scheme, but preparation and completion +of successive schemes; not uniformity and a fixed type of existences, +but progression and a climax. This may be said to be the case in the +geological aspect of the world; for, without occupying ourselves with +the question, how far the monuments of animal life, which we find +preserved in the earth's strata, exhibited a gradual progression from +ruder and more imperfect forms to the types of the present terrestrial +population; from sponges and mollusks, to fish and lizards, from +cold-blooded to warm blooded animals, and so on, till we come to the +most perfect vertebrates;--a doctrine which many eminent geologists +have held, and still hold;--without discussing this question, or +assuming that the fact is so; this at least cannot be denied or doubted, +that man is incomparably the most perfect and highly-endowed creature +which ever has existed on the earth. How far previous periods of animal +existence were a necessary preparation of the earth, as the habitation +of man, or a gradual progression towards the existence of man, we need +not now inquire. But this at least we may say; that man, now that he is +here, forms a climax to all that has preceded; a term incomparably +exceeding in value all the previous parts of the series; a complex and +ornate capital to the subjacent column; a personage of vastly greater +dignity and importance than all the preceding line of the procession. +The analogy of nature, in this case at least, appears to be, that there +should be inferior, as well as superior provinces, in the universe; and +that the inferior may occupy an immensely larger portion of time than +the superior; why not then of space? The intelligent part of creation is +thrust into the compass of a few years, in the course of myriads of +ages; why not then into the compass of a few miles, in the expanse of +systems? The earth was brute and inert, compared with its present +condition, dark and chaotic, so far as the light of reason and +intelligence are concerned, for countless centuries before man was +created. Why then may not other parts of creation be still in this brute +and inert and chaotic state, while the earth is under the influence of a +higher exercise of creative power? If the earth was, for ages, a turbid +abyss of lava and of mud, why may not Mars or Saturn be so still? If the +germs of life were, gradually, and at long intervals, inserted in the +terrestrial slime, why may they not be just inserted, or not yet +inserted, in Jupiter? Or why should we assume that the condition of +those planets resembles ours, even so far as such suppositions imply? +Why may they not, some or all of them, be barren masses of stone and +metal, slag and scoriæ, dust and cinders? That some of them are composed +of such materials, we have better reason to believe, than we have to +believe anything else respecting their physical constitution, as we +shall hereafter endeavor to show. If then, the earth be the sole +inhabited spot in the work of creation, the oasis in the desert of our +system, there is nothing in this contrary to the analogy of creation. +But if, in some way which perhaps we cannot discover, the earth +obtained, for accompaniments, mere chaotic and barren masses, as +conditions of coming into its present state; as it may have required, +for accompaniments, the brute and imperfect races of former animals, as +conditions of coming into its present state, as the habitation of man; +the analogy is against, and not in favor of, the belief that they too +(the other masses, the planets, &c.) are habitations. I may hereafter +dwell more fully on such speculations; but the possibility that the +planets are such rude masses, is quite as tenable, on astronomical +grounds, as the possibility that the planets resemble the earth, in +matters of which astronomy can tell us nothing. We say, therefore, that +the example of geology refutes the argument drawn from the supposed +analogy of one part of the universe with another; and suggests a strong +suspicion that the force of analogy, better known, may tend in the +opposite direction. + +36. When such possibilities are presented to the reader, he may +naturally ask, if we are thus to regard man as the climax of creation, +in space, as in time, can we point out any characters belonging to him, +which may tend to make it conceivable that the Creator should thus +distinguish him, and care for him:--should prepare his habitation if it +be so, by ages of chaotic and rudimentary life, and by accompanying +orbs of brute and barren matter. If Man be, thus, the head, the crowned +head of the creation, is he worthy to be thus elevated? Has he any +qualities which make it conceivable that, with such an array of +preparation and accompaniment, he should be placed upon the earth, his +throne? Or rather, if he be thus the chosen subject of God's care, has +he any qualities, which make it conceivable that he should be thus +selected; taken under such guardianship; admitted to such a +dispensation; graced with such favor. The question with which we began +again recurs: What is man that God should be thus mindful of him? After +the views which have been presented to us, does any answer now occur to +us? + +37. The answer which we have to give, is that which we have already +repeatedly stated. Man is an intellectual, moral, religious, and +spiritual creature. If we consider these attributes, we shall see that +they are such as to give him a special relation to God, and as we +conceive, and must conceive, God to be; and may therefore be, in God, +the occasion of special guardianship, special regard, a special +dispensation towards man. + +38. As an intellectual creature, he has not only an intelligence which +he can apply to practical uses, to minister to the needs of animal and +social life; but also an intellect by which he can speculate about the +relations of things, in their most general form; for instance, the +properties of space and time, the relations of finite and infinite. He +can discover truths, to which all things, existing in space and time, +must conform. These are conditions of existence to which the creation +conforms, that is, to which the Creator conforms; and man, capable of +seeing that such conditions are true and necessary, is capable, so far, +of understanding some of the conditions of the Creator's workmanship. +In this way, the mind of man has some community with the mind of God; +and however remote and imperfect this community may be, it must be real. +Since, then, man has thus, in his intellect, an element of community +with God, it is so far conceivable that he should be, in a special +manner, the object of God's care and favor. The human mind, with its +wonderful and perhaps illimitable powers, is something of which we can +believe God to be "mindful." + +39. Again: man is a moral creature. He recognizes, he cannot help +recognizing, a distinction of right and wrong in his actions; and in his +internal movements which lead to action. This distinction he recognizes +as the reason, the highest and ultimate reason, for doing or for not +doing. And this law of his own reason, he is, by reflection, led to +recognize as a Law of the Supreme Reason; of the Supreme Mind which has +made him what he is. The Moral Law, he owns and feels as God's Law. By +the obligation which he feels to obey this Law, he feels himself God's +subject; placed under his government; compelled to expect his judgment, +his rewards, and punishments. By being a moral creature, then, he is, in +a special manner, the subject of God; and not only we can believe that, +in this capacity, God cares for him; but we cannot believe that he _does +not_ care for him. He cares for him, so as to approve of what he does +right, and to condemn what he does wrong. And he has given him, in his +own breast, an assurance that he will do this; and thus, God cares for +man, in a peculiar and special manner. As a moral creature, we have no +difficulty in conceiving that God may think him worthy of his regard and +government. + +40. The development of man's moral nature, as we have just described it, +leads to, and involves the development of his religious nature. By +looking within himself, and seeing the Moral Law, he learns to look +upwards to God, the Author of the Law, and the Awarder of the rewards +and penalties which follow moral good and evil. But the belief of such a +dispensation carries us, or makes us long to be carried, beyond the +manifestations of this dispensation, as they appear in the ordinary +course of human life. By thinking on such things, man is led to ascribe +a wider range to the moral Government of God:--to believe in methods of +reward and punishment, which do not appear in the natural course of +events: to accept events, out of the order of nature, which announce +that God has provided such methods: to accept them, when duly +authenticated, as messages from God; and thus, when God provides the +means, to allow himself to be placed in intercourse with God. Since man +is capable of this; since, as a religious creature, this is his +tendency, his need, the craving of his heart, without which, when his +religious nature is fully unfolded, he can feel no comfort nor +satisfaction; we cannot be surprised that God should deem him a proper +object of a special fatherly care; a fit subject for a special +dispensation of his purposes, as to the consequences of human actions. +Man being this, we can believe that God is not only "mindful of him," +but "visits him." + +41. As we have said, the soul of man, regarded as the subject of God's +religious government, is especially termed his _Spirit_: the course of +human being which results from the intercourse with God, which God +permits, is a _spiritual_ existence. Man is capable, in no small degree, +of such an existence, of such an intercourse with God; and, as we are +authorized to term it, of such a life with God, and in God, even while +he continues in his present human existence. I say _authorized_, because +such expressions are used, though reverently, by the most religious +men; who are, at any rate, authority as to their own sentiments; which +are the basis of our reasoning. Whatever, then, may be the imperfection, +in this life, of such a union with God, yet since man can, when +sufficiently assisted and favored by God, enter upon such a union, we +cannot but think it most credible and most natural, that he should be +the object of God's special care and regard, even of his love and +presence. + +42. That men are, only in a comparatively small number of cases, +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual, in the degree which I +have described, does not, by any means, deprive our argument of its +force. The capacity of man is, that he may become this; and such a +capacity may well make him a special object in the eyes of Him under +whose guidance and by whose aid, such a development and elevation of his +nature is open to him. However imperfect and degraded, however +unintellectual, immoral, irreligious, and unspiritual, a great part of +mankind may be, still they all have the germs of such an elevation of +their nature; and a large portion of them make, we cannot doubt, no +small progress in this career of advancement to a spiritual condition. +And with such capacities, and such practical exercise of those +capacities, we can have no difficulty in believing, if the evidence +directs us to believe, that that part of the creation in which man has +his present appointed place, is the special field of God's care and +love; by whatever wastes of space, and multitudes of material bodies, it +may be surrounded; by whatever races it may have been previously +occupied, of brutes that perish, and that, compared with man, can hardly +be said to have lived. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Lyell, II. 420. [6th Ed.] + +[2] Cuvier. + +[3] By Bishop Berkeley. See Lyell, III. 346. + +[4] A recent popular writer, who has asserted the self-civilizing +tendency of man, has not been able, it would seem, to adduce any example +of the operation of this tendency, except a single tribe of North +American Indians, in whom it operated for a short time, and to a small +extent. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE NEBULÆ + + +1. I have attempted to show that, even if we suppose the other bodies of +the universe to resemble the Earth, so far as to seem, by their +materials, forms, and motions, no less fitted than she is to be the +abodes of life; yet that, knowing what we do of man, we can believe that +the Earth is tenanted by a race who are the _special_ objects of God's +care. Even if the tendency of the analogies of creation were, to incline +us to suppose that the other planets are as well suited as our globe, to +have inhabitants, still it would require a great amount of evidence, to +make us believe that they have such inhabitants as we are; while yet +such evidence is altogether wanting. Even if we knew that the stars were +the centres of revolving systems, we should have an immense difficulty +in believing that an Earth, with such a population as ours, revolves +about any of them. If astronomy made a plurality of worlds probable, we +have strong reasonings, drawn from other subjects, to think that the +other worlds are not like ours. + +2. The admirers of astronomical triumphs may perhaps be disposed to say, +that when so much has been discovered, we may be allowed to complete the +scheme by the exercise of fancy. I have attempted to show that we are +not in such a state of ignorance, when we look at other relations of +the earth and of man, as to allow us to do this. But now we may go a +little onwards in our argument; and may ask, whether Astronomy really +does what is here claimed for her:--whether she carries us so securely +to the bounds of the visible universe, that our Fancy may take up the +task, and people the space thus explored:--whether the bodies which +Astronomy has examined, be really as fitted as our Earth, to sustain a +population of living things:--whether the most distant objects in the +universe do really seem to be systems, or the beginnings of +systems:--whether Astronomy herself may not incline in favor of the +condition of man, as being the sole creature of his kind? + +3. In making this inquiry, it will of course be understood, that I do so +with the highest admiration for the vast discoveries which Astronomy has +really made; and for the marvellous skill and invention of the great men +who have, in all ages of the world, and not least, in our time, been the +authors of such discoveries. From the time when Galileo first discovered +the system of Jupiter's satellites, to the last scrutiny of the +structure of a nebula by Lord Rosse's gigantic telescope, the history of +the telescopic exploration of the sky, has been a history of genius +felicitously employed in revealing wonders. In this history, the noble +labors of the first and the second Herschel relative to the distribution +of the fixed stars, the forms and classes of nebulæ, and the phenomena +of double stars, especially bear upon our present speculations; to which +we may add, the examination of the aspect of each planet, by various +observers, as Schroeter, and of the moon by others, from Huyghens to +Mädler and Beer. The achievements which are most likely to occur to the +reader's mind are those of the Earl of Rosse; as being the latest +addition to our knowledge, and the result of the greatest instrumental +powers. By the energy and ingenuity of that eminent person, an eye is +directed to the heavens, having a pupil of six feet diameter, with the +most complete optical structure, and the power of ranging about for its +objects over a great extent of sky; and thus the quantity of light which +the eye receives from any point of the heavens is augmented, it may be, +fifty thousand times. The rising Moon is seen from the Observatory in +Ireland with the same increase of size and light, as if her solid globe, +two thousand miles in diameter, retaining all its illumination, really +rested upon the summits of the Alps, to be gazed at by the naked eye. An +object which appears to the naked eye a single star, may, by this +telescope, so far as its power of seeing is concerned, be resolved into +fifty thousand stars, each of the same brightness as the obvious star. +What seems to the unassisted vision a nebula, a patch of diluted light, +in which no distinct luminous point can be detected, may, by such an +instrument, be discriminated or resolved into a number of bright dots; +as the stippled shades of an engraving are resolved into dots by the +application of a powerful magnifying glass. Similar results of the +application of great telescopic power had of course been attained long +previously; but, as the nature of scientific research is, each step adds +something to our means of knowledge; and the last addition assumes, +includes, and augments the knowledge which we possessed before. The +discussions in which we are engaged, belong to the very boundary region +of science;--to the frontier where knowledge, at least astronomical +knowledge, ends, and ignorance begins. Such discoveries, therefore, as +those made by Lord Rosse's telescope, require our special notice here. + +4. We may begin, at what appears to us the outskirts of creation, the +Nebulæ. At one time it was conceived by astronomers in general, that +these patches of diffused light, which are seen by them in such +profusion in the sky, are not luminous bodies of regular terms and +definite boundaries, apparently solid, as the stars are supposed to be; +but really, as even to good telescopes many of them seem, masses of +luminous cloud or vapor, loosely held together, as clouds and vapors +are, and not capable by any powers of vision of being resolved into +distinct visible elements. This opinion was for a time so confidentially +entertained, that there was founded upon it an hypothesis, that these +were gaseous masses, out of which suns and systems might afterwards be +formed, by the concentration of these luminous vapors into a solid +central sun, more intensely luminous; while detached portions of the +mass, flying off, and cooling down so as to be no longer self-luminous, +might revolve round the central body, as planets and satellites. This is +the _Nebular Hypothesis_, suggested by the elder Herschel, and adopted +by the great mathematician Laplace. + +5. But the result of the optical scrutiny of the nebulæ by more modern +observers, especially by Lord Rosse in Ireland, and Mr. Bond in America, +has been, that many celestial objects which were regarded before as +truly nebulous, have been resolved into stars; and this resolution has +been extended to so many cases of nebulæ, of such various kinds, as to +have produced a strong suspicion in the minds of astronomers that _all_ +the nebulæ, however different in their appearance, may really be +resolved into stars, if they be attacked with optical powers +sufficiently great. + +6. If this were to be assumed as done, and if each of the separate +points, into which the nebulæ are thus resolved, were conceived to be a +star, which looks so small only because it is so distant, and which +really is as likely to have a system of planets revolving about it, as +is a star of the first magnitude:--we should then have a view of the +immensity of the visible universe, such as I presented to the reader in +the beginning of this essay. All the distant nebulæ appear as nebulæ, +only because they are so distant; if truly seen, they are groups of +stars, of which each may be as important as our sun, being, like it, the +centre of a planetary system. And thus, a patch of the heavens, one +hundredth or one thousandth part of the visible breadth of our sun, may +contain in it more life, not only than exists in the solar system, but +in as many such systems as the unassisted eye can see stars in the +heavens, on the clearest winter night. + +7. This is a stupendous view of the greatness of the creation; and, to +many persons, its very majesty, derived from magnitude and number, will +make it so striking and acceptable, that, once apprehended, they will +feel as if there were a kind of irreverence in disturbing it. But if +this view be really not tenable when more closely examined, it is, after +all, not wise to connect our feelings of religious reverence with it, so +that they shall suffer a shock when we are obliged to reject it. I may +add, that we may entertain an undoubting trust that any view of the +creation which is found to be true, will also be found to supply +material for reverential contemplation. I venture to hope that we may, +by further examination, be led to a reverence of a deeper and more +solemn character than a mere wonder at the immensity of space and +number. + +8. But whatever the result may be, let us consider the evidence for this +view. It assumes that all the Nebulæ are resolvable into stars, and that +they appear as nebulæ only because they are more distant than the region +in which they can appear as stars. Are there any facts, any phenomena in +the heavens, which may help us to determine whether this is a probable +opinion? + +9. It is most satisfactory for us, when we can, in such inquiries, know +the thoughts which have suggested themselves to the minds of those who +have examined the phenomena with the most complete knowledge, the +greatest care, and the best advantages; and have speculated upon these +phenomena in a way both profound and unprejudiced. Some remarks of Sir +John Herschel, recommended by these precious characters, seem to me to +bear strongly upon the question which I have just had to ask:--Do all +the nebulæ owe their nebulous appearance to their being too distant to +be seen as groups of distinct stars, though they really are such groups? + +10. Herschel, in the visit which he made to the Cape of Good Hope, for +the purpose of erecting to his father the most splendid monument that +son ever erected,--the completed survey of the vault of heaven,--had +full opportunity of studying a certain pair of remarkable bright spaces +of the skies, filled with a cloudy light, which lie near the southern +pole; and which, having been unavoidably noticed by the first Antarctic +voyagers, are called the _Magellanic Clouds_. When the larger of these +two clouds is examined through powerful telescopes, it presents, we are +told, a constitution of uncommon complexity: "large patches and tracts +of nebulosity in every stage of resolution, from light, irresolvable +with eighteen inches of reflecting aperture, up to perfectly separated +stars like the Milky Way, and clustering groups sufficiently insulated +and condensed to come under the designation of irregular, and in some +cases pretty rich clusters. But besides these, there are also nebulæ in +abundance, both regular and irregular; globular clusters in every stage +of condensation, and objects of a nebulous character quite peculiar, and +which have no analogies in any other region of the heavens."[1] He goes +on to say, that these nebulæ and clusters are far more crowded in this +space than they are in any other, even the most crowded parts, of the +nebulous heavens. This _Nubecula Major_, as it is termed, is of a round +or oval form, and its diameter is about six degrees, so that it is about +twelve times the apparent diameter of the moon. The _Nubecula Minor_ is +a smaller patch of the same kind. If we suppose the space occupied by +the various objects which the nubecula major includes, to be, in a +general way, spherical, its nearest and most remote parts must (as its +angular size proves) differ in their distance from us by little more +than a tenth part of our distance from its centre. That the two nubeculæ +are thus approximately spherical spaces, is in the highest degree +probable; not only from the peculiarity of their contents, which +suggests the notion of a peculiar group of objects, collected into a +limited space; but from the barrenness, as to such objects, of the sky +in the neighborhood of these Magellanic Clouds. To suppose (the only +other possible supposition) that they are two columns of space, with +their ends turned towards us, and their lengths hundreds and thousands +of times their breadths, would be too fantastical a proceeding to be +tolerated; and would, after all, not explain the facts without further +altogether arbitrary assumptions. + +11. It appears, then, that, in these groups, there are stars of various +magnitudes, clusters of various forms, nebulæ regular and irregular, +nebulous tracts and patches of peculiar character; and all so disposed, +that the most distant of them, whichever these may be, are not more than +one-tenth more distant than the nearest. If the nearest star in this +space be at nine times the distance of Sirius, the farthest nebulæ, +contained in the same space, will not be at more than ten times the +distance of Sirius. Of course, the doctrine that nebulæ are seen as +nebulæ, merely because they are so distant, requires us to assume all +nebulæ to be hundreds and thousands of times more distant than the +smallest stars. If stars of the eighth magnitude (which are hardly +visible to the naked eye) be eight times as remote as Sirius, a nebula +containing a thousand stars, which is invisible to the naked eye, must +be more than eight thousand times as remote as Sirius. And thus if, in +the whole galaxy, we reckon only the stars as far as the eighth +magnitude, and suppose all the stars of the galaxy to form a nebula, +which is visible to the spectators in a distant nebula, only as their +nebula is visible to us; we must place them at eight thousand times two +hundred thousand times the distance of the Sun; and, even so, we are +obviously vastly understating the calculation. These are the gigantic +estimates with which some astronomical speculators have been in the +habit of overwhelming the minds of their listeners; and these views have +given a kind of majesty to the aspect of the nebulæ; and have led some +persons to speak of the discovery of every new streak of nebulous light +in the starry heavens, as a discovery of new worlds, and still new +worlds. But the Magellanic Clouds show us very clearly that all these +calculations are entirely baseless. In those regions of space, there +coexists, in a limited compass, and in indiscriminate position, stars, +clusters of stars, nebulæ, regular and irregular, and nebulous streaks +and patches. These, then, are different kinds of things in themselves, +not merely different to us. There are such things as nebulæ side by side +with stars, and with clusters of stars. Nebulous matter resolvable +occurs close to nebulous matter irresolvable. The last and widest step +by which the dimensions of the universe have been expanded in the +notions of eager speculators, is checked by a completer knowledge and a +sager spirit of speculation. Whatever inference we may draw from the +resolvability of some of the nebulæ, we may not draw this +inference;--that they are more distant, and contain a larger array of +systems and of worlds, in proportion as they are difficult to resolve. + +12. But indeed, if we consider this process, of the resolution of nebulæ +into luminous points, on its own ground, without looking to such facts +as I have just adduced, it will be difficult, or impossible, to assign +any reason why it should lead to such inferences as have been drawn from +it. Let us look at this matter more clearly. An astronomer, armed with a +powerful telescope, _resolves_ a nebula, discerns that a luminous cloud +is composed of shining dots:--but what are these dots? Into _what_ does +he resolve the nebula? Into _Stars_, it is commonly said. Let us not +wrangle about words. By all means let these dots be Stars, if we know +about what we are speaking: if a _Star_ merely mean a luminous dot in +the sky. But that these stars shall resemble, in their nature, stars of +the first magnitude, and that such stars shall resemble our Sun, are +surely very bold structures of assumption to build on such a basis. Some +nebulæ are resolvable; are resolvable into distinct points; certainly a +very curious, probably an important discovery. We may hereafter learn +that _all_ nebulæ are resolvable into distinct points: that would be a +still more curious discovery. But what would it amount to? What would be +the simple way of expressing it, without hypothesis, and without +assumption? Plainly this: that the substance of all nebulæ is not +continuous, but discrete;--separable, and separate into distinct +luminous elements;--nebulæ are, it would then seem, as it were, of a +curdled or granulated texture; they have run into _lumps_ of light, or +have been formed originally of such lumps. Highly curious. But what are +these lumps? How large are they? At what distances? Of what structure? +Of what use? It would seem that he must be a bold man who undertakes to +answer these questions. Certainly he must appear to ordinary thinkers to +be _very_ bold, who, in reply, says, gravely and confidently, as if he +had unquestionable authority for his teaching:--"These lumps, O man, are +Suns; they are distant from each other as far as the Dog-star is from +us; each has its system of Planets, which revolve around it; and each of +these Planets is the seat of an animal and vegetable creation. Among +these Planets, some, we do not yet know how many, are occupied by +rational and responsible creatures, like Man; and the only matter which +perplexes us, holding this belief on astronomical grounds, is, that we +do not quite see how to put our theology into its due place and form in +our system." + +13. In discussing such matters as these, where our knowledge and our +ignorance are so curiously blended together, and where it is so +difficult to make men feel that so much ignorance can lie so close to so +much knowledge;--to make them believe that they have been allowed to +discover so much, and yet are not allowed to discover more:--we may be +permitted to illustrate our meaning, by supposing a case of blended +knowledge and ignorance, of real and imaginary discovery. Suppose that +there were carried from a scientific to a more ignorant nation, +excellent maps of the world, finely engraved; the mountain-ranges shaded +in the most delicate manner, and the sheet crowded with information of +all kinds, in writing large, small, and microscopic. Suppose also, that +when these maps had been studied with the naked eye, so as to establish +a profound respect for the knowledge and skill of the author of them, +some of those who perused them should be furnished with good +microscopes, so as to carry their examination further than before. They +might then find that, in several parts, what before appeared to be +merely crooked lines, was really writing, stating, it may be, the amount +of population of a province, or the date of foundation of a town. To +exhaust all the information thus contained on the maps, might be a work +of considerable time and labor. But suppose that, when this was done, a +body of resolute microscopists should insist that the information which +the map contained was not exhausted: that they should continue peering +perseveringly at the lines which formed the shading of the mountains, +maintaining that these lines also were writing, if only it might be +deciphered; and should go on increasing, with immense labor and +ingenuity, the powers of their microscopes, in order to discover the +legend contained in these unmeaning lines. We should, perhaps, have here +an image of the employment of these astronomers, who now go on looking +in nebulæ for worlds. And we may notice in passing, that several of the +arguments which are used by such astronomers, might be used, and would +be used, by our microscopists:--how improbable it was that a person so +full of knowledge, and so able to convey it, as the author of the maps +was known to be, should not have a design and purpose in every line that +he drew: what a waste of space it would be to leave any part of the +sheet blank of information; and the like. To which the reply is to us +obvious; that the design of shading the mountains was design enough; and +that the information conveyed was all that was necessary or convenient. +Nor does this illustration at all tend to show that such astronomical +scrutiny, directed intelligently, with a right selection of the points +examined, may not be highly interesting and important. If the +microscopists had examined the map with a view to determine the best way +in which mountains can be indicated by shading, they would have employed +themselves upon a question which has been the subject of multiplied and +instructive discussion in our own day. + +14. But to return to the subject of Nebulæ, we may further say, with +the most complete confidence, that whether or not nebulous matter be +generally resolvable into shining dots, it cannot possibly be true that +its being, or not being so resolvable by our telescopes, depends merely +upon its smaller or greater distance from the observer. For, in the +first place, that there is matter, to the best assisted eye not +distinguishable from nebulous matter, which is not so resolvable, is +proved by several facts. The tails of Comets often resemble nebulæ; so +much so that there are several known nebulæ, which are, by the less +experienced explorers of the sky, perpetually mistaken for comets, till +they are proved not to be so, by their having no cometary motion. Such +is the nebula in Andromeda, which is visible to the naked eye.[2] But +the tails and nebulous appendages of comets, though they alter their +appearance very greatly, according to the power of the telescope with +which they are examined, have never been resolved into stars, or any +kind of dots; and seem, by all investigations, to be sheets or cylinders +or cones of luminous vapor, changing their form as they approach to or +recede from the sun, and perhaps by the influence of other causes. Yet +some of them approach very near the earth; all of them come within the +limits of our system. Here, then, we have (probably, at least,) nebulous +matter, which when brought close to the eye, compared with the stellar +nebulæ, still appears as nebulous. + +15. Again, as another phenomenon, bearing upon the same question, we +have the Zodiacal Light. This is a faint cone of light[3] which, at +certain seasons, may be seen extending from the horizon obliquely +upwards, and following the course of the ecliptic, or rather, of the +sun's equator. It appears to be a lens-shaped envelope of the sun, +extending beyond the orbits of Mercury and Venus, and nearly attaining +that of the earth; and in Sir John Herschel's view, may be regarded as +placing the sun in the list of nebulous stars. No one has ever thought +that this nebulous appearance was resolvable into luminous points; but +if it were, probably not even the most sanguine of speculators on the +multitude of suns would call these points _suns_. + +16. But indeed the nebulæ themselves, and especially the most remote of +the nebulæ, or at least those which most especially require the most +powerful telescopes, offer far more decisive proofs that their +resolvability or non-resolvability,--their apparent constitution as +diffused and vaporous masses,--does not depend upon their distance. A +remarkable fact in the irregular, and in some of the regular nebulæ[4] +is, that they consist of long patches and streaks, which stretch out in +various directions, and of which the form[5] and extent vary according +to the visual power which is applied to them. Many of the nebulæ and +especially of the fainter ones, entirely change their form with the +optical power of the instrument by which they are scrutinized; so that, +as seen in the mightier telescopes of modern times, the astronomer +scarcely recognizes the figures in which the earlier observers have +recorded what they saw in the same place. Parts which, before, were +separate, are connected by thin bridges of light which are now detected; +and where the nebulous space appeared to be bounded, it sends off long +tails of faint light into the surrounding space. Now, no one can suppose +that these newly-seen portions of the nebula are immensely further off +than the other parts. However little we know of the nature of the +object, we must suppose it to be one connected object, with all its +parts, as to sense, at the same distance from us. Whether therefore it +be resolvable or no, there must be some other reason, besides the +difference of distance, why the brighter parts were seen, while the +fainter parts were not. The obvious reason is, that the latter were not +seen because they were thin films which required more light to see them. +We are led, irresistibly as it seems, to regard the whole mass of such a +nebula, as an aggregation of vaporous rolls and streaks, assuming such +forms as thin volumes of smoke or vapor often assume in our atmosphere, +and assuming, like them, different shapes according to the quantity of +light which comes to us from them. If, as soon as one of these new +filaments or webs of a nebula comes into view, we should say, Here we +have a new array of suns and of worlds, we should judge as +fantastically, as any one who should combine the like imaginations with +the varying cloud-work of a summer-sky. To suppose that all the varied +streaks by which the patch of nebulous light shades off into the +surrounding darkness, and which change their form and extent with every +additional polish which we can give to a reflecting or refracting +surface, disclose, with every new streak, new worlds, is a wanton +indulgence of fancy, to which astronomy gives us no countenance.[6] + +17. Undoubtedly all true astronomers, taught caution and temperance of +thought by the discipline of their magnificent science, abstain from +founding such assumptions upon their discoveries. They know how +necessary it is to be upon their guard against the tricks which fancy +plays with the senses; and if they see appearances of which they cannot +interpret the meaning, they are content that they should have no meaning +for them, till the due explanation comes. We have innumerable examples +of this wise and cautious temper, in all periods of astronomy. One has +occurred lately. Several careful astronomers, observing the stars by +day, had been surprised to see globes of light glide across the field of +view of their telescopes, often in rapid succession and in great +numbers. They did not, as may be supposed, rush to the assumption that +these globes were celestial bodies of a new kind, before unseen; and +that from the peculiarity of their appearance and movement, they were +probably inhabited by beings of a peculiar kind. They proceeded very +differently; they altered the focus of their telescopes, looked with +other glasses, made various changes and trials, and finally discovered +that these globes of light were the winged seeds of certain plants which +were wafted through the air; and which, illuminated by the sun, were +made globular by being at distances unsuited to the focus of the +telescope.[7] + +18. But perhaps something more may be founded on the ramified and +straggling form which belongs to many of the nebulæ. Under the powers of +Lord Rosse's telescope, a considerable number of them assume a shape +consisting of several spiral films diverging from one centre, and +growing broader and fainter as they diverge, so as to resemble a curled +feather, or whirlpool of light.[8] This form, though generally deformed +by irregularities, more or less, is traceable in so many of the nebulæ, +that we cannot easily divest ourselves of the persuasion that there is +some general reason for such a form;--that something, in the mechanical +causes which have produced the nebulæ, has tended to give them this +shape. Now, when this thought has occurred to us, since mathematicians +have written a great deal concerning the mechanics of the universe, it +is natural to ask, whether any of the problems which they have solved +give a result like that thus presented to our eyes. Do such spirals as +we here see, occur in any of the diagrams which illustrate the possible +motions of celestial bodies? And to this, a person acquainted with +mathematical literature might reply, that in the second Book of Newton's +_Principia_, in the part which has especial reference to the Vortices +of Descartes, such spirals appear upon the page. They represent +the path which a body would describe if, acted upon by a central +force, it had to move in a medium of which the resistance was +considerable;--considerable, that is, in comparison with the other +forces which act; as for example, the forces which deflect the motion +from a straight line. Indeed, that in such a case a body would describe +a spiral, of which the general form would be more or less oval, is +evident on a little consideration. And in this way, for instance, +Encke's comet, which, if the resistance to its motion were insensible, +would go on describing an ellipse about the sun, always returning upon +the same path after every revolution; does really describe a path which, +at each revolution, falls a little within the preceding revolution, and +thus gradually converges to the centre. And if we suppose the comet to +consist of a luminous mass, or a string of masses, which should occupy +a considerable arc of such an orbit, the orbit would be marked by a +track of light, as an oval spiral. Or if such a comet were to separate +into two portions, as we have, with our own eyes, recently seen Biela's +comet do; or into a greater number; then these portions would be +distributed along such a spiral. And if we suppose a large mass of +cometic matter thus to move in a highly resisting medium, and to consist +of patches of different densities, then some would move faster and some +more slowly; but all, in spirals such as have been spoken of; and the +general aspect produced would be, that of the spiral nebulæ which I have +endeavored to describe. The luminous matter would be more diffused in +the outer and more condensed in the central parts, because to the centre +of attraction all the spirals converge. + +19. This would be so, we say, if the luminous matter moved in a greatly +resisting medium. But what is the measure of _great_ resistance? It is, +as we have already said, that the resistance which opposes the motion +shall bear a considerable proportion to the force which deflects the +motion. But what is that force? Upon the theory of the universal +gravitation of matter, on which theory we here proceed, the force which +deflects the motions of the parts of each system into curves, is the +mutual attraction of the parts of the system; leaving out of the account +the action of other systems, as comparatively insignificant and +insensible. The condition, then, for the production of such spiral +figures as I have spoken of, amounts really to this; that the mutual +attraction of the parts of the luminous matter is slight; or, in other +words, that the matter itself is very thin and rare. In that case, +indeed, we can easily see that such a result would follow. A cloud of +dust, or of smoke, which was thin and light, would make but a little way +through the air, and would soon fall downwards; while a metal bullet +shot horizontally with the same velocity, might fly for miles. Just so, +a loose and vaporous mass of cometic matter would be pulled rapidly +inwards by the attraction to the centre; and supposing it also drawn +into a long train, by the different density of its different parts, it +would trace, in lines of light, a circular or elliptical spiral +converging to the centre of attraction, and resembling one of the +branches of the spiral nebulæ. And if several such cometic masses thus +travelled towards the centre, they would exhibit the wheel-like figure +with bent spokes, which is seen in the spiral nebulæ. And such a figure +would all the more resemble some of these nebulæ, as seen through Lord +Rosse's telescope, if the spirals were accompanied by exterior branches +of thinner and fainter light, which nebulous matter of smaller density +might naturally form. Perhaps too, such matter, when thin, may be +supposed to cool down more rapidly from its state of incandescence; and +thus to become less luminous. If this were so, a great optical power +would of course be required, to make the diverging branches visible at +all. + +20. There is one additional remark, which we may make, as to the +resemblance of cometary[9] and nebular matter. That cometary matter is +of very small density, we have many reasons to believe:--its +transparency, which allows us to see stars through it undimmed;--the +absence of any mechanical effect, weight, inertia, impulse, or +attraction, in the nearest appulses of comets to planets and +satellites:--and the fact that, in the recent remarkable event in the +cometic history, the separation of Biela's comet into two, the two parts +did not appear to exert any perceptible attraction on each other, any +more than two volumes of dust or of smoke would do on earth. Luminous +cometary matter, then, is very light, that is, has very little weight or +inertia. And luminous nebulous matter is also very light in this sense: +if our account of the cause of spiral nebulæ has in it any truth. But +yet, if we suppose the nebulæ to be governed by the law of universal +gravitation, the attractive force of the luminous matter upon itself, +must be sufficient to bend the spirals into their forms. How are we to +reconcile this; that the matter is so loose that it falls to the centre +in rapid spirals, and yet that it attracts so strongly that there is a +centre, and an energetic central force to curve the spirals thither? To +this, the reply which we must make is, that the size of the nebular +space is such, that though its rarity is extreme, its whole mass is +considerable. One part does not perceptibly attract another, but the +whole does perceptibly attract every part. This indeed need the less +surprise us, since it is exactly the case with our earth. One stone does +not visibly attract another. It is much indeed for man, if he can make +perceptible the attraction of a mountain upon a plumb-line; or of a +stratum of rock a thousand feet thick upon the going of a pendulum; or +of large masses of metal upon a delicate balance. By such experiments +men of science have endeavored to measure that minute thing, the +attraction of one portion of terrestrial matter upon another; and thus, +to weigh the whole mass of the earth. And equally great, at least, may +be the disproportion between the mutual attraction of two parts of a +nebulous system, and the total central attraction; and thus, though the +former be insensible, the latter may be important. + +21. It has been shown by Newton, that if any mass of matter be +distributed in a uniform sphere, or in uniform concentric spherical +shells, the total attraction on a point without the sphere, will be the +same as if the whole mass were collected in that single point, the +centre. Now, proceeding upon the supposition of such a distribution of +the matter in a nebula, (which is a reasonable average supposition,) we +may say, that if our sun were expanded into a nebula reaching to the +extreme bounds of the known solar system, namely, to the +newly-discovered planet Neptune, or even hundreds of times further; the +attraction on an external point would remain the same as it is, while +the attraction on points within the sphere of diffusion would be less +than it is; according to some law, depending upon the degree of +condensation of the nebular matter towards the centre; but still, in the +outer regions of the nebula, not differing much from the present solar +attraction. If we could discover a mass of luminous matter, descending +in a spiral course towards the centre of such a nebula, that is, towards +the sun, we should have a sort of element of the spiral nebulæ which +have now attracted so much of the attention of astronomers. But, by an +extraordinary coincidence, recent discoveries have presented to us such +an element. Encke's comet, of which we have just spoken, appears to be +describing such a spiral curve towards the sun. It is found that its +period is, at every revolution, shorter and shorter; the amplitude of +its sweep, at every return within the limits of our observation, +narrower and narrower; so that in the course of revolutions and ages, +however numerous, still, not such as to shake the evidence of the fact, +it will fall into the sun. + +22. Here then we are irresistibly driven to calculate what degree of +resemblance there is, between the comet of Encke, and the luminous +elements of the spiral nebulæ, which have recently been found to exist +in other regions of the universe. Can we compare its density with +theirs? Can we learn whether the luminous matter in such nebulæ is more +diffused or less diffused, than that of the comet of Encke? Can we +compare the mechanical power of getting through space, as we may call +it, that is, the ratio of the inertia to the resistance, in the one +case, and in the other? If we can, the comparison cannot fail, it would +seem, to be very curious and instructive. In this comparison, as in most +others to which cosmical relations conduct us, we must expect that the +numbers to which we are led, will be of very considerable amount. It is +not equality in the density of the two luminous masses which we are to +expect to find; if we can mark their proportions by thousands of times, +we shall have made no small progress in such speculations. + +23. The comet of Encke describes a spiral, gradually converging to the +sun; but at what rate converging? In how many revolutions will it reach +the sun? Of how many folds will its spire consist, before it attains the +end of its course? The answer is:--Of very many. The retardation of +Encke's Comet is very small: so small, that it has tasked the highest +powers of modern calculation to detect it. Still, however, it is there: +detected, and generally acknowledged, and confirmed by every revolution +of the comet, which brings it under our notice; that is, commonly, about +every three years. And having this fact, we must make what we can of it, +in reasoning on the condition of the universe. No accuracy of +calculation is necessary for our purpose: it is enough, if we bring into +view the kind of scale of numbers to which calculation would lead us. + +24. Encke's comet revolves round the sun in 1,211 days. The period +diminishes at present, by about one-ninth of a day every revolution. +This amount of diminution will change, as the orbit narrows; but for our +purpose, it will be enough to consider it unchangeable. The orbit +therefore will cease to exist in a number of periods expressed by 9 +times 1,211; that is, in something more that 10,000 revolutions; and of +course sooner than this, in consequence of its coming in contact with +the body of the sun. In 30,000 years then, it may be, this comet will +complete its spiral, and be absorbed by the central mass. This long +time, this long series of ten thousand revolutions, are long, because +the resistance is so small, compared with the inertia of the moving +mass. However thin, and rare, and unsubstantial the comet may be, the +medium which resists it is much more so. + +25. But this spiral, converging to its pole so slowly that it reaches it +only after 10,000 circuits, is very different indeed from the spirals +which we see in the nebulæ of which we have spoken. In the most +conspicuous of those, there are only at most three or four circular or +oval sweeps, in each spiral, or even the spiral reaches the centre +before it has completed a single revolution round it. Now, what are we +to infer from this? How is it, that the comet has a spiral of so many +revolutions, and the nebulæ of so few? What difference of the mechanical +conditions is indicated by this striking difference of form? Why, while +the Comet thus lingers longer in the outer space, and approaches the sun +by almost imperceptible degrees, does the Nebular Element rush, as it +were, headlong to its centre, and show itself unable to circulate even +for a few revolutions? + +26. Regarding the question as a mechanical problem, the answer must be +this:--It is so, because the nebula is so much more rare than the matter +of the comet, or the resisting medium so much more dense; or combining +the two suppositions, because in the case of the comet, the luminous +matter has _much_ more inertia, more mechanical reality and substance, +than the medium through which it moves; but in the nebula very _little_ +more. + +27. The numbers of revolutions of the spiral, in the two cases, may not +exactly represent the difference of the proportions; but, as I have +said, they may serve to show the scale of them; and thus we may say, +that if Encke's comet, approaching the centre by 10,000 revolutions, is +100,000 times as dense as the surrounding medium, the elements of the +nebula, which reach the centre in a single revolution, are only ten +times as dense as the medium through which they have to move.[10] + +28. Nor does this result (that the bright element of the nebulæ is so +few times denser than the medium in which it moves) offer anything which +need surprise us: for, in truth, in a diffused nebula, since we suppose +that its parts have mechanical properties, the nebula itself is a +resisting medium. The rarer parts, which may very naturally have cooled +down in consequence of their rarity, and so, become non-luminous, will +resist the motions of the more dense and still-luminous portions. If we +recur to the supposition, which we lately made, that the Sun were +expanded into a nebulous sphere, reaching the orbit of Neptune, the +diffused matter would offer a far greater resistance to the motions of +comets than they now experience. In that case, Encke's comet might be +brought to the centre after a few revolutions; and if, while it were +thus descending, it were to be drawn out into a string of luminous +masses, as Biela's comet has begun to be, these comets, and any others, +would form separate luminous spiral tracks in the solar system; and +would convert it into a spiral nebula of many branches, like those which +are now the most recent objects of astronomical wonder. + +29. It seems allowable to regard it as one of those coincidences, in the +epochs of related yet seeming unconnected discoveries, which have so +often occurred in the history of science; that we should, nearly at the +same time, have had brought to our notice, the prevalence of spiral +nebulæ, and the circumstances, in Biela's and in Encke's comets, which +seem to explain them: the one by showing the origin of luminous broken +lines, one part drifting on faster than another, according to its +different density, as is usual in incoherent masses;[11] and the other +by showing the origin of the spiral form of those lines, arising from +the motion being in a resisting medium. + +30. But though I have made suppositions by which our Solar System might +become a spiral nebula, undoubtedly it is at present something very +different; and the leading points of difference are very important for +us to consider. And the main point is, that which has already been +cursorily noticed: that instead of consisting of matter all nearly of +the same density, and a great deal of it luminous, our Solar System +consists of kinds of matter immensely different in density, and of large +and regular portions which are not luminous. Instead of a diffused +nebula with vaporous comets trailing spiral tracks through a medium +little rarer than themselves; we have a central sun, and the dark globes +of the solid planets rolling round him, in a medium so rare, that in +thousands of revolutions not a vestige of retardation can be discovered +by the most subtle and persevering researches of astronomers. In the +solar system, the luminous matter is collected into the body of the sun; +the non-luminous matter, into the planets. And the comets and the +resisting medium, which offer a small exception to this account, bear a +proportion to the rest which the power of numbers scarce suffices to +express. + +31. Thus with regard to the density of matter in the solar system; we +have supposed, as a mode of expression, that the density of a comet, +Encke's comet for instance, is 100,000 times that of the resisting +medium. Probably this is greatly understated; and probably also we +greatly understate the matter, when we suppose that the tail of a comet +is 100,000 times rarer than the matter of the sun.[12] And thus the +resisting medium would be, at a very low calculation, 10,000 millions of +times more rare than the substance of the sun. + +32. And thus we are not, I think, going too far, when we say, that our +Solar System, compared with spiral nebulous systems, is a system +completed and finished, while they are mere confused, indiscriminate, +incoherent masses. In the Nebulæ, we have loose matter of a thin and +vaporous constitution, differing as more or less rare, more or less +luminous, in a small degree; diffused over enormous spaces, in +straggling and irregular forms; moving in devious and brief curves, with +no vestige of order or system, or even of separation of different kinds +of bodies. In the Solar System, we have the luminous separated from the +non-luminous, the hot from the cold, the dense from the rare; and all, +luminous and non-luminous, formed into globes, impressed with regular +and orderly motions, which continue the same for innumerable revolutions +and cycles.[13] The spiral nebulæ, compared with the solar system, +cannot be considered as other than a kind of chaos; and not even a +chaos, in the sense of a state preceding an orderly and stable system; +for there is no indication, in those objects, of any tendency towards +such a system. If we were to say that they appear mere shapeless masses, +flung off in the work of creating solar systems, we might perhaps +disturb those who are resolved to find everywhere worlds like ours; but +it seems difficult to suggest any other reason for not saying so. + +33. The same may be said of the other very irregular nebulæ, which +spread out patches and paths of various degrees of brightness; and shoot +out, into surrounding space, faint branches which are of different form +and extent, according to the optical power with which they are seen. +These irregular forms are incapable of being permanent according to the +laws of mechanics. They are not figures of equilibrium; and, therefore, +must change by the attraction of the matter upon itself. But if the +tenuity of the matter is extreme, and the resistance of the medium in +which it floats considerable, this tendency to change and to +condensation may be almost nullified; and the bright specks may long +keep their straggling forms, as the most fantastically shaped clouds of +a summer-sky often do. It is true, it may be said that the reason why we +see no change in the form of such nebulæ, is that our observations have +not endured long enough; all visible changes in the stars requiring an +immense time, according to the gigantic scale of celestial mechanism. +But even this hypothesis (it is no more) tends to establish the extreme +tenuity of the nebulæ; for more solid systems, like our solar system, +require, for the preservation of their form, motions which are +perceptible, and indeed conspicuous, in the course of a month; namely, +the motions of the planets. All, therefore, concurs to prove the extreme +tenuity of the substance of irregular nebulæ. + +34. Nebulæ which assume a regular, for instance, a circular or oval +shape, with whatever variation of luminous density from the inner to the +outer parts, may have a form of equilibrium, if their parts have a +proper gyratory motion. Still, we see no reason for supposing that these +differ so much from irregular nebulæ, as to be denser bodies, kept in +their forms by rapid motions. We are rather led to believe that, though +perhaps denser than the spiral nebulæ, they are still of extremely thin +and vaporous character. It would seem very unlikely that these vast +clouds of luminous vapor should be as dense as the tail of a comet; +since a portion of luminous matter so small as such a tail is, must have +cooled down from its most luminous condition; and must require to be +more dense than nebular matter in order to be visible at all by its own +light. + +35. Thus we appear to have good reason to believe that nebulæ are vast +masses of incoherent or gaseous matter, of immense tenuity, diffused in +forms more or less irregular, but all of them destitute of any regular +system of solid moving bodies. We seem, therefore, to have made it +certain that _these_ celestial objects at least are not inhabited. No +speculators have been bold enough to place inhabitants in a comet; +except, indeed, some persons who have imagined that such a habitation, +carrying its inmates alternately into the close vicinity of the sun's +surface, and far beyond the orbit of Uranus, and thus exposing them to +the fierce extremes of heat and cold, might be the seat of penal +inflictions on those who had deserved punishment by acts done in their +life on one of the planets. But even to give coherence to this wild +imagination, we must further suppose that the tenants of such +prison-houses, though still sensible to human suffering from extreme +heat and cold, have bodies of the same vaporous and unsubstantial +character as the vehicle in which they are thus carried about the +system; for no frame of solid structure could be sustained by the +incoherent and varying volume of a comet. And probably, to people the +nebulæ with such thin and fiery forms, is a mode of providing them with +population, that the most ardent advocates of the plurality of worlds +are not prepared to adopt. + +36. So far then as the Nebulæ are concerned, the improbability of their +being inhabited, appears to mount to the highest point that can be +conceived. We may, by the indulgence of fancy, people the summer-clouds, +or the beams of the aurora borealis, with living beings, of the same +kind of substance as those bright appearances themselves; and in doing +so, we are not making any bolder assumption than we are, when we stock +the Nebulæ with inhabitants, and call them in that sense, "distant +worlds." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Herschel, _Outl. of Astr._ Art. 893. + +[2] Herschel, _Outl. of Astr._ Art. 874, and Plate 11, Fig. 3. + +[3] Ibid. Art. 897. + +[4] Hersch. 874. + +[5] Ibid. 881-8. + +[6] At the recent meeting of the British Association (Sept. 1853), +drawings were exhibited of the same nebulæ, as seen through Lord Rosse's +large telescope, and through a telescope of three feet aperture. With +the smaller telescopic power, all the characteristic features were lost. +The spiral structure (see next Article but one) has been almost entirely +brought to light by the large telescope. + +[7] See monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dec. 13, +1850. + +[8] The frontispiece to this volume represents two of these Spiral +Nebulæ; those denominated 51 Messier, and 99 Messier, as given by Lord +Rosse in the _Phil. Trans. for 1850_. The former of these two has a +lateral focus, besides the principal focus or pole. + +[9] I am aware that some astronomers do not consider it as proved that +cometary matter is entirely self-luminous. Arago found that the light of +a Comet contained a portion of polarized light, thus proving that it had +been reflected (_Cosmos_, I. p. 111, and III. p. 566). But I think the +opinion that the greater part of the light is self-luminous, like the +nebulæ, generally prevails. Any other supposition is scarcely consistent +with the rapid changes of brightness which occur in a comet during its +motion to and from the Sun. + +[10] We assume here that the number of revolutions to the centre is +greater in proportion as the relative density of the resisting medium is +less; which is by no means mechanically true; but the calculation may +serve, as we have said, to show the scale of the numbers involved. + +[11] Humboldt, whom nothing relative to the history of science escapes, +quotes from Seneca a passage in which mention is made of a Comet which +divided into two parts; and from the Chinese Annals, a notice of three +"coupled Comets," which in the year 896 appeared, and described their +paths together. _Cosmos_, III. p. 570, and the notes. + +[12] Laplace has proved that the masses of comets are very small. He +reckons their mean mass as very much less than 1-100000th of the Earth's +mass. And hence, considering their great size, we see how rare they must +be. See _Expos. du Syst. du Monde_. + +[13] Humboldt repeatedly expresses his conviction that our Solar System +contains a greater variety of forms than other systems. (_Cosmos_, III. +373 and 587.) + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE FIXED STARS. + + +1. We appear, in the last chapter, to have cleared away the supposed +inhabitants of the outskirts of creation, so far as the Nebulæ are the +outskirts of creation. We must now approach a little nearer, in +appearance at least, to our own system. We must consider the Fixed +Stars; and examine any evidence which we may be able to discover, as to +the probability of their containing, in themselves or in accompanying +bodies, as planets, inhabitants of any kind. Any special evidence which +we can discern on this subject, either way, is indeed slight. On the one +side we have the asserted analogy of the parts of the universe; of which +point we have spoken, and may have more to say hereafter. Each Fixed +Star is conceived to be of the nature of our Sun; and therefore, like +him, the centre of a planetary system. On the other side, it is +extremely difficult to find any special facts relative to the nature of +the fixed stars, which may enable us in any degree to judge how far they +really are of a like nature with the Sun, and how far this resemblance +goes. We may, however, notice a few features in the starry heavens, with +which, in the absence of any stronger grounds, we may be allowed to +connect our speculations on such questions. The assiduous scrutiny of +the stars which has been pursued by the most eminent astronomers, and +the reflections which their researches have suggested to them, may have +a new interest, when discussed under this point of view. + +2. Next after the Nebulæ, the cases which may most naturally engage our +attention, are Clusters of stars. The cases, indeed, in which these +clusters are the closest, and the stars the smallest, and in which, +therefore, it is only by the aid of a good telescope that they are +resolved into stars, do not differ from the resolvable nebulæ, except in +the degree of optical power which is required to resolve them. We may, +therefore, it would seem, apply to such clusters, what we have said of +resolvable nebulæ: that when they are thus, by the application of +telescopic power, resolved into bright points, it seems to be a very +bold assumption to assume, without further proof, that these bright +points are suns, distant from each other as far as we are from the +nearest stars. The boldness of such an assumption appears to be felt by +our wisest astronomers.[1] That several of the clusters which are +visible, some of them appearing as if the component stars were gathered +together in a nearly spherical form, are systems bound together by some +special force, or some common origin, we may regard, with those +astronomers, as in the highest degree probable. With respect to the +stability of the form of such a system, a curious remark has been made +by Sir John Herschel,[2] that if we suppose a globular space filled with +equal stars, uniformly dispersed through it, the particular stars might +go on forever, describing ellipses about the centre of the globe, in all +directions, and of all sizes; and all completing their revolutions in +the same time. This follows, because, as Newton has shown, in such a +case, the compound force which tends to the centre of the sphere would +be everywhere proportional to the distance from the centre; and under +the action of such a force, ellipses about the centre would be +described, all the periods being of the same amount. This kind of +symmetrical and simple systematic motion, presented by Newton as a mere +exemplification of the results of his mechanical principles, is perhaps +realized, approximately at least, in some of the globular clusters. The +motions will be swift or slow, according to the total mass of the +groups. If, for instance, our Sun were thus broken into fragments, so as +to fill the sphere girdled by the earth's orbit, all the fragments would +revolve round the centre in a year. Now, there is no symptom, in any +cluster, of its parts moving nearly so fast as this; and therefore we +have, it would seem, evidence that the groups are much less dense than +would be the space so filled with fragments of the sun. The slowness of +the motions, in this case, as in the nebulæ, is evidence of the weakness +of the forces, and therefore, of the rarity of the mass; and till we +have some gyratory motion discovered in these groups, we have nothing to +limit our supposition of the extreme tenuity of their total substance. + +3. Let us then go on to the cases in which we have proof of such +gyratory motions in the stars; for such are not wanting. Fifty years +ago, Herschel the father, had already ascertained that there are certain +pairs of stars, very near each other (so near, indeed, that to the +unassisted eye they are seen as single stars only,) and which revolve +about each other. These Binary Sidereal Systems have since been examined +with immense diligence and profound skill by Herschel the son, and +others; and the number of such binary systems has been found, by such +observers, to be very considerable. The periods of their revolutions are +of various lengths, from 30 or 40 years to several hundreds of years. +Some of those pairs which have the shortest periods, have already, +since the nature of their movements was discovered, performed more than +a complete revolution;[3] thus leaving no room for doubting that their +motions are really of this gyratory kind. Not only the fact, but the law +of this orbital motion, has been investigated; and the investigations, +which naturally were commenced on the hypothesis that these distant +bodies were governed by that Law of universal Gravitation, which +prevails throughout the solar system, and so completely explains the +minutest features of its motions, have ended in establishing the reality +of that Law, for several Binary Systems, with as complete evidence as +that which carries its operations to the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. + +4. Being able thus to discern, in distant regions of the universe, +bodies revolving about each other, we have the means of determining, as +we do in our own solar system, the masses of the bodies so revolving. +But for this purpose, we must know their distance from each other; which +is, to our vision, exceedingly small, requiring, as we have said, high +magnifying powers to make it visible at all. And again, to know what +linear distance this small visible distance represents, we must know the +distance of the stars from us, which is, for every star, as we know, +immensely great; and for most, we are destitute of all means of +determining how great it is. There are, however, some of these binary +systems, in which astronomers conceive that they have sufficiently +ascertained the value of both these elements, (the distance of the two +stars from each other, and from us,) to enable them to proceed with the +calculation of which I have spoken; the determination of the masses of +the revolving bodies. In the case of the star _Alpha Centauri_, the +first star in the constellation of the Centaur, the period is reckoned +to be 77 years; and as, by the same calculator, the apparent semi-axis +of the orbit described is stated at 15 seconds of space, while the +annual parallax of each star is about one second, it is evident that the +orbit must have a radius about 15 times the radius of the earth's orbit; +that is, an orbit greater than that of Saturn, and approaching to that +of Uranus. In the solar system, a revolution in such an orbit would +occupy a time greater than that of Saturn, which is 30 years, and less +than that of Uranus, which is about 80 years: it would, in fact, be +about 58 years. And since, in the binary star, the period is greater +than this, namely 77 years, the attraction which holds together its two +elements must be less than that which holds together the Sun and a +planet at the same distance; and therefore the masses of the two stars +together are considerably less than the mass of our sun. + +5. A like conclusion is derived from another of these conspicuous double +stars, namely, the one termed by astronomers _61 Cygni_; of which the +annual parallax has lately been ascertained to be one-third of a second +of space, while the distance of the two stars is 15 seconds. Here +therefore we have an orbit 45 times the size of the Earth's orbit; +larger than that of the newly-discovered planet Neptune, whose orbit is +30 times as large as the earth's, and his period nearly 165 years. The +period of 61 Cygni is however, it appears, probably not short of 500 +years; and hence it is calculated that the sum of the masses of the two +stars which make up this pair is about one-third of the mass of our +Sun.[4] + +6. These results give some countenance to the opinion, that the quantity +of luminous matter, in other systems, does not differ very considerably +from the mass of our Sun. It differs in these cases as 1 to 3, or +thereabouts. In what degree of condensation, however, the matter of +these binary systems is, compared with that of our solar system, we have +no means whatever of knowing. Each of the two stars may have its +luminous matter diffused through a globe as large as the earth's orbit; +and in that case, would probably not be more dense than the tail of a +comet.[5] It is observed by astronomers, that in the pairs of binary +stars which we have mentioned, the two stars of each pair are of +different colors; the stars being of a high yellow, approaching to +orange color,[6] but the smaller individual being in each case of a +deeper tint. This might suggest to us the conjecture that the smaller +mass had cooled further below the point of high luminosity than the +larger; but that both these degrees of light belong to a condition still +progressive, and probably still gaseous. Without attaching any great +value to such conjectures, they appear to be at least as well authorized +as the supposition that each of these stars, thus different, is +nevertheless precisely in the condition of our sun. + +7. But, even granting that each of the individuals of this pair were a +sun like ours, in the nature of its material and its state of +condensation, is it probable that it resembles our Sun also in having +planets revolving about it? A system of planets revolving around or +among a pair of suns, which are, at the same time, revolving about one +another, is so complex a scheme, so impossible to arrange in a stable +manner, that the assumption of the existence of such schemes, without a +vestige of evidence, can hardly require confutation. No doubt, if we +were really required to provide such a binary system of suns with +attendant planets, this would be best done by putting the planets so +near to one sun, that they should not be sensibly affected by the other; +and this is accordingly what has been proposed.[7] For, as has been well +said of the supposed planets, in making this proposal, "Unless closely +nestled under the protecting wing of their immediate superior, the sweep +of the other sun in his perihelion passage round their own, might carry +them off, or whirl them into orbits utterly inconsistent with the +existence of their inhabitants." To assume the existence of the +inhabitants, in spite of such dangers, and to provide against the +dangers by placing them so close to one sun as to be out of the reach of +the other, though the whole distance of the two may not, and as we have +seen, in some cases does not, exceed the dimensions of our solar system, +is showing them all the favor which is possible. But in making this +provision, it is overlooked that it may not be possible to keep them in +permanent orbits so near to the selected centre: their sun may be a vast +sphere of luminous vapor; and the planets, plunged into this atmosphere, +may, instead of describing regular orbits, plough their way in spiral +paths through the nebulous abyss to its central nucleus. + +8. Clustered stars, then, and double stars, appear to give us but little +promise of inhabitants. We must next turn our attention to the single +stars, as the most hopeful cases. Indeed, it is certain that no one +would have thought of regarding the individual stars of clusters, or of +pairs, as the centres of planetary systems, if the view of insulated +stars, as the centres of such systems, had not already become familiar, +and, we may say, established. What, then, is the probability of that +view? Is there good evidence that the Fixed Stars, or some of them, +really have planets revolving round them? What is the kind of proof +which we have of this? + +9. To this we must reply, that the only proof that the fixed stars are +the centres of planetary systems, resides in the assumption that those +stars are _like the Sun_;--resemble him in their qualities and nature, +and therefore, it is inferred, must have the same offices, and the same +appendages. They are, as the Sun is, independent sources of light, and +thence, probably, of heat; and therefore they must have attendant +planets, to which they can impart their light and heat; and these +planets must have inhabitants, who live under and enjoy those +influences. This is, probably, the kind of reasoning on which those +rely, who regard the fixed stars as so many worlds, or centres of +families of worlds. + +10. Everything in this argument, therefore, depends upon this: that the +Stars are _like the Sun_; and we must consider, what evidence we have of +the exactness of this likeness. + +11. The Stars are like the Sun in this, that they shine with an +independent light, not with a borrowed light, as the planets shine. In +this, however, the stars resemble, not only the Sun, but the nebulous +patches in the sky, and the tails of comets; for these also, in all +probability, shine with an original light. Probably it will hardly be +urged that we see, by the very appearance of the stars, that they are of +the nature of the Sun: for the appearance of luminaries in the sky is so +far from enabling us to discriminate the nature of their light, that to +a common eye, a planet and a fixed star appear alike as stars. There is +no obvious distinction between the original light of the stars and the +reflected light of the planets. The stars, then, being like the sun in +being luminous, does it follow that they are, like the sun, definite +dense masses?[8] Or are they, or many of them, luminous masses in a far +more diffused state; visually contracted to points, by the immense +distance from us at which they are? + +12. We have seen that some of those stars, which we have the best means +of examining, are, in mass, one third, or less, of our Sun. If such a +mass, at the distance of the fixed stars, were diffused through a sphere +equal in radius to the earth's orbit, it would still appear to us as a +point; as is evident by this, that the fixed stars, for the most part, +have no discoverable annual parallax; that is, the earth's orbit appears +to them a point. If one of the fixed stars, Sirius, for instance, be in +this diffused condition, such a circumstance will not, mechanically +speaking, prevent his having planets revolving round him; for, as we +have said, the attraction of his whole mass, in whatever state of +spherical diffusion, will be the same as if it were collected at the +centre. But such a state of diffusion will make him so unlike our Sun, +as much to break the force of the presumption that he must have planets +because our Sun has. If the luminous matter of the stars gradually +cools, grows dark, and solidifies, such diffusion would imply that the +time of solidification is not yet begun; and therefore that the solid +planets which accompany the luminous central body are not yet brought +into being. If there be any truth in this hypothetical account of the +changes, through which the matter of the stars successively passes; and +if, by such changes, planetary systems are formed; how many of the fixed +stars may never yet have reached the planetary state! how many, for want +of some necessary mechanical condition, may never give rise to permanent +orbits at all! + +13. And that the matter of the stars does go through changes, we have +evidence, in many such changes which have actually been observed;[9] +and perhaps in the different colors of different stars; which may, not +improbably, arise from their being at different stages of their +progress. That planetary systems, once formed, go through mighty +changes, we have evidence in the view which geology gives us of the +history of this earth; and in that view, we see also, how unique, and +how far elevated in its purpose, the last period of this history may be, +compared with the preceding periods; and, up to the present time at +least, how comparatively brief in its duration. If, therefore, stellar +globes can become planetary systems in the progress of ages, it will not +be at all inconsistent with what we know of the order of nature, that +only a few, or even that only one, should have yet reached that +condition. All the others, but the one, may be systems yet unformed, or +fragments struck off in the forming of the one. If any one is not +satisfied with this account of the degree of resemblance between the +fixed stars and the sun, but would make the likeness greater than this; +we have only to say, that the proof that it is so lies upon him. Such a +resemblance as we have supposed, is all that the facts suggest. That the +stars are independent luminaries, we see; but whether they are as dense +as the sun, or globes a hundred or a thousand times as rare, we have no +means whatever of knowing. And, to assume that besides these luminous +bodies which we see, there are dark bodies which we do not see, +revolving round the others in permanent orbits, which require special +mechanical conditions; and to suppose this, in order that we may build +upon this assumption a still larger one, that of living inhabitants of +these dark bodies; is a hypothetical procedure, which it seems strange +that we should have to combat, at the present stage of the history of +science, and in dealing with those whose minds have been disciplined by +the previous events in the progress of astronomy. + +14. Let us consider, however, further, how far astronomy authorizes us +to regard the Fixed Stars as being, like our Sun, the centres of systems +of Planets. Those who hold this, consider them as having a permanent +condition of brightness, as our Sun has had for an indefinite period, so +far as we have any knowledge on the subject. Yet, as we have said, no +small number of the stars undergo changes of brightness; and some of +them undergo such changes, in a manner which is not discernibly +periodical; and which must therefore be regarded as progressive. This +phenomenon countenances the opinion of such a progress from one material +condition to another; which, we have seen, is suggested by the analogy +of the probable formation of our own solar system. The very star which +is so often taken as the probable centre of a system, Sirius, has, in +the course of the last 2,000 years, changed its light from red to white. +Ptolemy notes it as a red star: in Tycho's time it was already, as it is +now, a white one.[10] The star _Eta Argus_ changes both its degree of +light and its color; ranging, in seemingly irregular intervals of time, +from the fourth to the first magnitude,[11] and from yellow to red. +Several other examples of the like kind have been observed. Mr. Hind[12] +gives an example in which he has, quite recently, observed in two years +a star change its color from very red to bluish. These variable +unperiodical stars are probably very numerous. Also, some stars, +observed of old, are now become invisible. "The lost Pleiad," by the +loss of which the cluster, called the Seven Stars, offers now only six +to the naked eye, is an example of a change of this kind already noted +in ancient times. There are several others, of which the extinction is +recognized by astronomers as proved.[13] In other cases, new stars have +appeared, and have then seemed to die away and vanish. The appearance of +a new star in the time of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus, induced him +to construct his famous Catalogue of the Stars. Others are recorded to +have appeared in the middle ages. The first which was observed by modern +astronomers was the celebrated star seen by Tycho Brahe in 1572. It +appeared suddenly in the constellation Cassiopeia, was fixed in its +place like the neighboring stars, had no nebula or tail, exceeded in +splendor all other stars, being as bright as Venus when she is nearest +the earth. It soon began to diminish in brightness, and passing through +various diminishing degrees of magnitude, vanished altogether after +seventeen months. This star also passed through various colors; being +first white, then yellow, then red. In like manner, in 1604, a new star +of great magnitude blazed forth in the constellation Serpentarius; and +was seen by Kepler. And this also, like that of 1572, after a few +months, declined and vanished. + +15. These appearances led Tycho to frame an hypothesis like that which +Sir William Herschel afterwards proposed, that the stars are formed by +the condensation of luminous nebulous matter. Nor is it easy to think of +such phenomena (of which several others have been observed, though none +so conspicuous as these), without regarding them as showing that the +matter of the fixed stars, occasionally at least, passes through changes +of consistence as great as would be the condensation and extinction of a +luminous vapor. And if such changes have been but few within the +recorded period of man's observation of the stars, we must recollect how +small that period is, compared with the period during which the stars +have existed. The stars themselves give us testimony of their having +been in being for millions of years. For according to the best estimates +we can form of their distances, the time which light would employ in +reaching us from the most remote of them, would be millions of years; +and, therefore, we now see those remote stars by means of the light +emitted from them millions of years ago. And if, in the 2,000 years +during which such observations are recorded, only 200 stars have +undergone such changes in a degree visible to the earth's inhabitants; +in a million of years, change going on at the same rate, 100,000 stars +would exhibit visible progressive change, showing that they had not yet +reached a permanent condition. And how much of change may go on in any +star without its being in any degree perceptible to the most exact +astronomical scrutiny! + +16. The tendency of these considerations is, to lead us to think that +the fixed stars are not generally in that permanent condition in which +our sun is; and which appears to be alone consistent with the existence +of a system such as the solar system.[14] These views, therefore, fall +in with that which we have been led to by this consideration of the +Nebulæ: that the Solar System is in a more complete and advanced state, +as a system, than many at least of the stellar systems can be; it may +be, than any other. + +17. It has been alleged, as a proof of the likeness of the Fixed Stars +to our Sun, that like him, they revolve upon their axes.[15] This has +been supposed to be proved with regard to many of them, by their having +periodical recurrences of fainter and brighter lustre; as if they were +revolving orbs, with one side darkened by spots. Such facts are not very +numerous or definite in the heavens. _Omicron_[16] in the constellation +_Cetus_, is the longest known of them; and is held to revolve in 831 +days. From the curious phenomena now spoken of, it has been called _Mira +Ceti_.[17] _Algol_, the second star (_Beta_) of _Perseus_, called also +_Caput Medusæ_, is another, with a period of 2 days 21 hours; and in +this case, the obscuration of the light, and the restoration of it, are +so sudden, that from the time when it was first remarked, (by Goodricke, +in 1782,) it suggested the hypothesis of an opaque body revolving round +the star. The star _Delta_, in the constellation _Cephus_, is another, +with a period of 5 days 9 hours. The star _Beta_ in the _Lyre_, has a +period of 6 days 10 hours, or perhaps 12 days 21 hours, one revolution +having been taken for two. Another such star is _Eta Aquilæ_, with a +period of 7 days 4 hours. These five are all the periodical stars of +which astronomers can speak with precision.[18] But about thirty more +are supposed to be subject to such change, though their periods, epochs, +and phases of brightness, cannot at present be given exactly. + +18. That these periodical changes in certain of the fixed stars are a +curious and interesting astronomical fact, is indisputable. Nothing can +be more probable also, than that it indicates, in the stellar masses, a +revolution on their axes; which cannot surprise us, seeing that +revolution upon an axis is, so far as we know, a universal law of all +the large compact masses of matter which exist in the universe; and may +be conceived to be a result derived from their origin, and a condition +of any permanent or nearly permanent figure. But this can prove little +or nothing as to their being like the sun, in any way which implies +their having inhabitants, in themselves or in accompanying planets. The +rotation of our Sun is not, in any intelligible way, connected with its +having near it the inhabited Earth. + +19. If we were to suppose some of the stars to be centres of planetary +systems, we can hardly suppose it likely that these alone rotate, and +that the others stand still. Probably all the stars rotate, more or less +regularly, according as they are permanent or variable in form; but the +most regular may still have no planets; and if they have, those planets +may be as blank of inhabitants as our moon will be proved to be. + +20. The revolution of Algol seems to approach the nearest to a fact in +favor of a star being the centre of a revolving system; and from the +first, as we have said, the periodical change, and the sudden darkening +and brightening of this luminary, suggested the supposition of an opaque +body revolving about it. But this body cannot be a planet. The planets +which revolve about our Sun are not, any of them, nor all of them +together, large enough to produce a perceptible obscuration of his +light, to a spectator outside the system. But in Algol, the phenomena +are very different from this.[19] The star is usually visible as a star +of the second magnitude; but during each period of 2 days 21 hours, (or +69 hours,) it suffers a kind of eclipse, which reduces it to a star of +the fourth magnitude. During this eclipse, the star diminishes in +splendor for 3-1/2 hours; is at its lowest brightness for a quarter of +an hour; and then, in 3-1/2 hours more, is restored to its original +splendor. According to these numbers, if the obscuration be produced by +a dark body revolving round a central luminary, and describing a +circular orbit, as the regular recurrence of the obscuration implies, +the space of the orbit during which the eclipsing body is interposed +must be about one-ninth of the circumference; for the obscuration +occupies 7-1/4 hours out of 69. And therefore the space during which the +eclipsing body obscures the central one, must be about one _sixth_ of +the _diameter_ of its orbit. But in order that the revolving body may, +through this space, obscure the central one, the latter must extend over +this space, namely, one sixth of the diameter of the orbit. But we may +remark that there is no proof, in the phenomena, that the darkening body +is detached from the bright mass. The effect would be the same if the +dark mass were a part of the revolving star itself. It may be that the +star has not yet assumed a spherical form, but is an oblong nebular mass +with one part (perhaps from being thinner in texture) cooled down and +become opaque. And the amount of obscuration, reducing the star from the +second to the fourth magnitude, implies that the obscuring mass is large +(perhaps one half the diameter, or much more) compared with the luminous +mass. If this be a probable hypothesis to account for the phenomena, +they are much more against than for the supposition of the star being +the centre of seats of habitation. And even if we have a planet nearly +as large as its sun, revolving at the distance of only six of the sun's +radii, how unlike is this to the solar system! + +21. In fact, all these periodical stars, in so far as they are +periodical, are proved, not to be like, but to be _unlike_ our sun. It +is true that the sun has spots, by means of which his rotation has been +determined by astronomers. But these spots, besides being so small that +they produce no perceptible alteration in his brightness, and are never, +or very rarely, visible to the naked eye, are not permanent. A star with +a permanent dark side would be very unlike our sun. The largest known of +these stars, _Mira_, as the old astronomers called it, becomes invisible +to the naked eye for 5 months during a period of 11 months. It must, +therefore, have nearly one half its surface quite dark. This is very +unlike the condition of the sun; and is a condition, it would seem, very +little fitted to make this star the centre of a planetary system like +ours. + +22. But there are other remarkable phenomena respecting these periodical +stars, which have a bearing on our subject. Their periods are not quite +regular, but are subject to certain variations. Thus it has been +supposed that the period of Mira is subject to a cyclical fluctuation, +embracing 88 of its periods; that is, about 80 years. But this notion of +a cycle of so long a duration, requires confirmation; the fact of +fluctuation in the period is alone certain. In like manner, Algol's +periods are not quite uniform. All these facts agree with our +suggestion, that the periodical stars are bodies of luminous matter +which have not yet assumed a permanent form; and which, therefore, as +they revolve about their axes, and turn to us their darker and their +brighter parts, do so at intervals, and in an order somewhat variable. +And this suggestion appears to be remarkably confirmed, by a result +which recent observations have discovered relative to this star, Algol; +namely, that its periods become shorter and shorter. For if the luminous +matter, which is thus revolving, be gradually gathering into a more +condensed form;--becoming less rare, or more compact; as, for instance, +it would do, if it were collecting itself from an irregular, or +elongated, into a more spherical form; such a shortening of the period +of revolution would take place; for a mass which contracts while it is +revolving, accelerates its rate of revolution, by mechanical principles. +And thus we do appear to have, in this observed acceleration of the +periods of Algol, an evidence that that luminous mass has not yet +reached its final and permanent condition. + +23. It is true, it has been conjectured, by high authority,[20] that +this accelerated rapidity of the periods of Algol will not continue; but +will gradually relax, and then be changed to an increase; like many +other cyclical combinations in astronomy. But this conjecture seems to +have little to support it. The cases in which an acceleration of motion +is retarded, checked, and restored, all belong to our Solar System; and +to assume that Algol, like the solar system, has assumed a permanent and +balanced condition, is to take for granted precisely the point in +question. We know of no such cycles among the fixed stars, at least with +any certainty; for the cycle proposed for Mira must be considered as +greatly needing confirmation; considering how long is the cycle, and how +recent the suggestion of its existence. + +24. And even in the solar system, we have accelerated motions, in which +no mathematician or astronomer looks for a check or regress of the +acceleration. No one expects that Encke's comet will cease to be +accelerated, and to revolve in periods continually shorter; though all +the other motions hitherto observed in the system are cyclical. In the +case of a fixed star, we have much less reason to look for such a cycle, +than we have in Encke's comet. But further: with regard to the existence +of such a cycle of faster and slower motion in the case of Algol, the +most recent observed facts are strongly against it; for it has been +observed by Argelander, that not only there is a diminution of the +period, but that this diminution proceeds with accelerated rapidity; a +course of events which, in no instance, in the whole of the cosmical +movements, ends in a regression, retardation, and restoration of the +former rate. We are led to believe, therefore, that this remarkable +luminary will go on revolving faster and faster, till its extreme point +of condensation is attained. And in the meantime, we have very strong +reasons to believe that this mutable body is not, like the sun, a +permanent centre of a permanent system; and that any argument drawn from +its supposed likeness to the sun, in favor of the supposition that the +regions which are near it are the seats of habitation, is quite +baseless. + +25. There are other phenomena of the Fixed Stars, and other conjectures +of astronomers respecting them, which I need not notice, as they do not +appear to have any bearing upon our subject. Such are the "proper +motions" of the stars, and the explanation which has been suggested of +some of them; that they arise from the stars revolving round other stars +which are dark, and therefore invisible. Such again is the attempt to +show that the Sun, carrying with it the whole Solar System, is in +motion; and the further attempt to show the direction of this motion; +and again, the hypothesis that the Sun itself revolves round some +distant body in space. These minute inquiries and bold conjectures, as +to the movements of the masses of matter which occupy the universe, do +not throw any light on the question whether any part besides the earth +is inhabited; any more than the investigation of the movements of the +ocean, and of their laws, could prove or disprove the existence of +marine plants and animals. They do not on that account cease to be +important and interesting subjects of speculation; but they do not +belong to our subject. + +26. In Fontenelle's _Dialogues on the Plurality of Worlds_, a work which +may be considered as having given this subject a place in popular +literature, he illustrates his argument by a comparison, which it may be +worth while to look at for a moment. The speaker who asserts that the +moon, the planets, and the stars, are the seats of habitation, describes +the person, who denies this, as resembling a citizen of Paris, who, +seeing from the towers of Notre Dame the town of Saint Denis, (it being +supposed that no communication between the two places had ever +occurred,) denies that it is inhabited, because he cannot see the +inhabitants. Of course the conclusion is easy, if we may thus take for +granted that what he sees is a town. But we may modify this image, so as +to represent our argument more fairly. Let it be supposed that we +inhabit an island, from which innumerable other islands are visible; but +the art of navigation being quite unknown, we are ignorant whether any +of them are inhabited. In some of these islands, are seen masses more or +less resembling churches; and some of our neighbors assert that these +are churches; that churches must be surrounded by houses; and that +houses must have inhabitants. Others hold that the seeming churches are +only peculiar forms of rocks. In this state of the debate, everything +depends upon the degree of resemblance to churches which the forms +exhibit. But suppose that telescopes are invented, and employed with +diligence upon the questionable shapes. In a long course of careful and +skilful examination, no house is seen, and the rocks do not at all +become more like churches, rather the contrary. So far, it would seem, +the probability of inhabitants in the islands is lessened. But there are +other reasons brought into view. Our island is a long extinct volcano, +with a tranquil and fertile soil; but the other islands are apparently +somewhat different. Some of them are active volcanoes, the volcanic +operations covering, so far as we can discern, the whole island; others +undergo changes, such as weather or earthquakes may produce; but in none +of them can we discover such changes as show the hand of man. For these +islands, it would seem the probability of inhabitants is further +lessened. And so long as we have no better materials than these for +forming a judgment, it would, surely, be accounted rash, to assert that +the islands in general are inhabited; and unreasonable, to blame those +who deny or doubt it. Nor would such blame be justified by adducing +theological or _à priori_ arguments; as, that the analogy of island with +island makes the assumption allowable; or that it is inconsistent with +the plan of the Creator of islands to leave them uninhabited. For we +know that many islands are, or were long, uninhabited. And if ours were +an island occupied by a numerous, well-governed, moral, and religious +race, of which the history was known, and of which the relation to the +Creator was connected with its history; the assumption of a history, +more or less similar to ours, for the inhabitants of the other islands, +whose existence was utterly unproved, would, probably, be generally +deemed a fitter field for the romance-writer than for the philosopher. +It could not, at best, rise above the region of vague conjecture. + +27. Fontenelle, in the agreeable book just referred to, says, very +truly, that the formula by which his view is urged on adversaries is, +_Pourquoi non_? which he holds to be a powerful figure of logic. It is, +however, a figure which has this peculiarity, that it may, in most +cases, be used with equal force on either side. When we are asked Why +the Moon, Mercury, Saturn, the system of Sirius, should _not_ be +inhabited by intelligent beings; we may ask, Why the earth in the ages +previous to man might not be so inhabited? The answer would be, that we +have proof _how_ it _was_ inhabited. And as to the fact in the other +case, I shall shortly attempt to give proof that the Moon is certainly +not, and Mercury and Saturn probably not inhabited. With regard to the +Fixed Stars, it is more difficult to reason; because we have the means +of knowing so little of their structure. But in this case also, we might +easily ask on our side, _Pourquoi non_? Why should not the Solar System +be the chief and most complete system in the universe, and the Earth the +principal planet in that System? So far as we yet know, the Sun is the +largest Sun among the stars; and we shall attempt to show, that the +Earth is the largest solid opaque globe in the solar system. Some System +must be the largest and most finished of all; why not ours? Some planet +must be the largest planet; why not the Earth? + +28. It should be recollected that there must be some system which is the +most complete of all systems, some planet which is the largest of all +planets. And if that largest planet, in the most complete system, be, +after being for ages tenanted by irrational creatures, at last, and +alone of all, occupied by a rational race, that race must necessarily +have the power of asking such questions as these: Why they should be +alone rational? Why their planet should be alone thus favored? If the +case be ours, we may hope to be then able to answer these questions, +when we can explain the most certain fact which they involve; Why the +Earth was occupied so long by irrational creatures, before the rational +race was placed upon it? The mere power of asking such questions can +prove or disprove nothing; for it is a power which must equally subsist, +whether the human inhabitants of the earth be or be not the only +rational population which the universe contains. If there be a race thus +favored by the Creator, they must, at that stage of their knowledge in +which man now is, be able to doubt, as man does, of the extent and +greatness of the privilege which they enjoy. + +29. The argument that the Fixed Stars are like the Sun, and therefore +the centres of inhabited systems as the Sun is, is sometimes called an +argument from Analogy; and this word _Analogy_ is urged, as giving great +force to the reasoning. But it must be recollected, that precisely the +point in question is, whether there _is_ an analogy. The stars, it is +said, are like the Sun. In what respects? We know of none, except in +being self-luminous; and this they have in common with the nebulæ, +which, as we have seen, are not centres of inhabited systems. Nor does +this quality of being self-luminous at all determine the degree of +condensation of a star. Sirius may be less than a hundredth or a +thousandth of the density of the Sun. But the Stars, it may be further +urged, are like the Sun in turning on their axes. To this we reply, that +we know this only of those stars in which, the very phenomenon which +proves their revolution, proves also that they are unlike the Sun, in +having one side darker than the other. Add to which, their revolution is +not connected with the existence of planets, still less of inhabitants +of planets, in any intelligible manner. The resemblance, therefore, so +far as it bears upon the question, is confined to one single point, in +the highest degree ambiguous and inconclusive; and any argument drawn +from this one point of resemblance, has little claim to be termed an +argument from analogy.[21] + +30. On a subject on which we know so little, it is difficult to present +any view which deserves to be regarded as an analogy. We see, among the +stars, nebulæ more or less condensed, which are possibly, in some cases, +stages of a connected progress towards a definite star; and it may be, +to a star with planets in permanent orbits. We see, in our planet, +evidence of successive stages of a connected series of brute animals, +preceded perhaps by various stages of lifeless chaos. If the histories +of the Sun, and of all the stars, are governed by a common analogy, the +nebulous condensation, and the stages of animal life, may be parts of +the same continued series of events; and different stars may be at +different points of that series. But even on this supposition, but a few +of the stars may be the seats of conscious life, and none, of +intelligence. For among the stars which have condensed to a permanent +form, how many have failed in throwing off a permanent planet! How many +may be in some stage of lifeless chaos! We must needs suppose a vast +number of stages between a nebular chaos and the lowest forms of +conscious life. Perhaps as many as there are fixed stars; and far more +than there are of stars which become fertile of life: so that no two +systems may be at the same stage of the planetary progress. And if this +be so,--our system being so complicated, that we must suppose it +peculiarly developed, having the largest Sun that we know of, and our +Earth being (as we shall hereafter attempt to prove) the largest solid +planet that we know of,--this Earth may be the sole seat of the highest +stage of planetary development. + +31. The assumption that there is anything of the nature of a regular law +or order of progress from nebular matter to conscious life,--a law which +extends to all the stars, or to many of them,--is in the highest degree +precarious and unsupported; but since it is sometimes employed in such +speculations as we are pursuing, we may make a remark or two connected +with it. If we suppose, on the planets of other systems, a progress in +some degree analogous to that which geology shows to have occurred on +the Earth, there may be, in those planets, creatures in some way +analogous to our vegetables and animals; but analogy also requires that +they should differ far more from the terrestrial vegetables and animals +of any epoch, than those of one epoch do from those of another; since +they belong to a different stellar system, and probably exist under very +different conditions from any that ever prevailed on the Earth. We are +forbidden, therefore, by analogy, to suppose that on any other planet +there was such an anatomical progression towards the form of man, as we +can discern (according to some eminent physiologists) among the tribes +which have occupied the Earth. Are we to conceive that the creatures on +the planets of other systems are, like the most perfect terrestrial +animals, symmetrical as to right and left, vertebrate, with fore limbs +and hind limbs, heads, organs of sense in their heads, and the like? +Every one can see how rash and fanciful it would be to make such +suppositions. Those who have, in the play of their invention, imagined +inhabitants of other planets, have tried to avoid this servile imitation +of terrestrial forms. Here is Sir Humphry Davy's account of the +inhabitants of Saturn. "I saw moving on the surface below me, immense +masses, the forms of which I find it impossible to describe. They had +systems for locomotion similar to that of the morse or sea-horse, but I +saw with great surprise that they moved from place to place by six +extremely thin membranes, which they used as wings. I saw numerous +convolutions of tubes, more analogous to the trunk of the elephant, than +to anything else I can imagine, occupying what I supposed to be the +upper parts of the body."[22] The attendant Genius informs the narrator, +that though these creatures look like zoophytes, they have a sphere of +sensibility and intellectual enjoyment far superior to that of the +inhabitants of the Earth. If we were to reason upon a work of fancy like +this, we might say, that it was just as easy to ascribe superior +sensibility and intelligence to zoophyte-formed creatures upon the +Earth, as in Saturn. Even fancy cannot aid us in giving consistent form +to the inhabitants of other planets. + +32. But even if we could assent to the opinion, as probable, that there +may occur, on some other planet, progressions of organized forms +analogous in some way to that series of animal forms which has appeared +upon the earth, we should still have no ground to assume that this +series must terminate in a rational and intelligent creature like man. +For the introduction of reason and intelligence upon the Earth is no +part nor consequence of the series of animal forms. It is a fact of an +entirely new kind. The transition from brute to man does not come within +the analogy of the transition from brute to brute. The thread of +analogy, even if it could lead us so far, would break here. We may +conceive analogues to other animals, but we could have no analogue to +man, except man. Man is not merely a higher kind of animal; he is a +creature of a superior order, participating in the attributes of a +higher nature; as we have already said, and as we hope hereafter +further to show. Even, therefore, if we were to assume the general +analogy of the Stars and of the Sun, and were to join to that the +information which geology gives us of the history of our own planet; +though we might, on this precarious path, be led to think of other +planets as peopled with unimagined monsters; we should still find a +chasm in our reasoning, if we tried, in this way, to find intelligent +and rational creatures in planets which may revolve round Sirius or +Arcturus. + +33. The reasonable view of the matter appears to be this. The assumption +that the Fixed Stars are of exactly the same nature as the Sun, was, at +the first, when their vast distance and probable great size were newly +ascertained, a bold guess; to be confirmed or refuted by subsequent +observations and discoveries. Any appearances, tending in any degree to +confirm this guess, would have deserved the most considerate attention. +But there has not been a vestige of any such confirmatory fact. No +planet, nor anything which can fairly be regarded as indicating the +existence of a planet, revolving about a star, has anywhere been +discerned. The discovery of nebulæ, of binary systems, of clusters of +stars, of periodical stars, of varying and accelerated periods of such +stars, all seem to point the other way. And if all these facts be held +to be but small in amount, as to the information which they convey, +about the larger, and perhaps nearer stars; still they leave the +original assumption a mere guess, unsupported by all that three +centuries of most diligent, and in other respects successful research, +has been able to bring to light. That Copernicus, that Galileo, that +Kepler, should believe the stars to be Suns, in every sense of the term, +was a natural result of the expansion of thought which their great +discoveries produced, in them and in their contemporaries. Nor are we +yet called upon to withdraw from them our sympathy; or entitled to +contradict their conjecture. But all the knowledge that the succeeding +times have given us; the extreme tenuity of much of the luminous matter +in the skies; the existence of gyratory motion among the stars, quite +different from planetary systems; the absence of any observed motions at +all resembling such systems; the appearance of changes in stars, quite +inconsistent with such permanent systems; the disclosure of the history +of our own planet, as one in which changes have constantly been going +on; the certainty that by far the greater part of the duration of its +existence, it has been tenanted by creatures entirely different from +those which give an interest, and thence, a persuasiveness, to the +belief of inhabitants in worlds appended to each star; the +impossibility, which appears, on the gravest consideration, of +transferring to other worlds such interests as belong to our own race in +this world; all these considerations should, it would seem, have +prevented that old and arbitrary conjecture from growing up, among a +generation professing philosophical caution, and scientific discipline, +into a settled belief. + +34. Some of the moral and theological views which tend to encourage and +uphold this belief, may be taken under our more special consideration +hereafter: but here, where we are reasoning principally upon +astronomical grounds, we may conclude what we have to remark about the +Fixed Stars, as the centres of inhabited systems of worlds, by saying; +that it will be time enough to speculate about the inhabitants of the +planets which belong to such systems, when we have ascertained that +there are such planets, or one such planet. When that is done, we can +then apply to them any reasons which may exist, for believing that all, +or many planets, are the seats of habitation of living things. What +reasons of this kind can be adduced, and what is their force with +regard to our own solar system, we must now proceed to discuss.[23] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Herschel, 866. + +[2] Ibid. 866. + +[3] Herschel, 846. + +[4] Herschel, 848. + +[5] That these systems have not condensed to _one_ centre, appears to +imply a less complete degree of condensation than exists in those +systems which have done so. + +[6] Herschel, 850. + +[7] Herschel, 847. + +[8] The density of the sun is about as great as the density of water. + +[9] Herschel, 827-832. + +[10] _Cosmos_, III. 169, 205, and 641. + +[11] Ibid., III. 172 and 252. + +[12] _Astron. Soc. Notices_, Dec. 13, 1850. + +[13] See Grant's _Hist. of Physical Astronomy_, p. 538. + +[14] I am aware of certain speculations, and especially of some recent +ones, tending to show that even our Sun is wasting away by the emission +of light and heat; but these opinions, even if established, do not much +affect our argument one way or the other. + +[15] Chalmers' _Astron. Disc._ p. 39. + +[16] Hersch. 820. + +[17] The periodical character of this star was discovered by David +Fabricius, a parish priest in East Friesland, the father of John +Fabricius, who discovered the solar spots. (_Cosmos_, III. 234.) + +[18] Hersch. 825. In Humboldt's _Cosmos_, III. 243, Argelander, who has +most carefully observed and studied these periodical stars, has given a +catalogue containing 24, with the most recent determinations of their +periods. + +[19] Hersch. 821. Humboldt (_Cosmos_, III. 238 and 246,) gives the +period as 68 hours 49 minutes, and says that it is 7 or 8 hours in its +less bright state. If we could suppose the times of the warning, and of +the greatest eclipse, given by Herschel, to be exactly determined, as +3-1/2 and 1/4, that is, in the proportion of 14 to 1, the darkening body +must have its effective breadth 14/15 of that of the star. But this is +on the supposition that the orbit of the darkening body has the +spectator's eye in its plane; if this be not so, the darkening body may +be much larger. + +[20] Hersch. _Outl. Astr._ 821. Another explanation of the variable +period of Algol, is that the star is moving towards us, and therefore +the light occupies less and less time to reach us. + +[21] Humboldt, very justly, regards the force of analogy as tending in +the opposite direction. "After all," he asks, (_Cosmos_, III. 373,) "is +the assumption of satellites to the Fixed Stars so absolutely necessary? +If we were to begin from the outer planets, Jupiter, &c., analogy might +seem to require that all planets have satellites. But yet this is not +true for Mars, Venus, Mercury." To which we may further add the +_twenty-three_ Planetoids. In this case there is a much greater number +of bodies which have not satellites, than which have them. + +[22] _Consolations in Travel_. Dial. 1. + +[23] What is said in Art. 15, that in consequence of the time employed +in the transmission of visual impressions, our seeing a star is +evidence, not that it exists now, but that it existed, it may be, many +thousands of years ago; may seem, to some readers, to throw doubts upon +reasonings which we have employed. It may be said that a star which was +a mere chaos, when the light, by which we see it, set out from it, may, +in the thousands of years which have since elapsed, have grown into an +orderly world. To which bare possibility, we may oppose another +supposition at least equally possible:--that the distant stars were +sparks or fragments struck off in the formation of the Solar System, +which are really long since extinct; and survive in appearance, only by +the light which they at first emitted. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PLANETS. + + +1. When it was discovered, by Copernicus and Galileo, that Mercury, +Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, which had hitherto been regarded only as +"wandering fires, that move in mystic dance," were really, in many +circumstances, bodies resembling the Earth;--that they and the Earth +alike, were opaque globes, revolving about the Sun in orbits nearly +circular, revolving also about their own axes, and some of them +accompanied by their Satellites, as the Earth is by the Moon;--it was +inevitable that the conjecture should arise, that they too had +inhabitants, as the Earth has. Each of these bodies were seemingly +coherent and solid; furnished with an arrangement for producing day and +night, summer and winter; and might therefore, it was naturally +conceived, have inhabitants moving upon its solid surface, and reckoning +their lives and their employment by days, and months, and years. This +was an unavoidable guess. It was far less bold and sweeping than the +guess that there are inhabitants in the region of the Fixed Stars, but +still, like that, it was, for the time at least, only a guess; and like +that, it must depend upon future explorations of these bodies and their +conditions, whether the guess was confirmed or discredited. The +conjecture could not, by any moderately cautious man, be regarded as so +overwhelmingly probable, that it had no need of further proof. Its final +acceptance or rejection must depend on the subsequent progress of +astronomy, and of science in general. + +2. We have to consider then how far subsequent discoveries have given +additional value to this conjecture. And, as, in the first place, +important among such discoveries, we must note the addition of several +new planets to our system. It was found, by the elder Herschel, (in +1781,) that, far beyond Saturn, there was another planet, which, for a +time, was called by the name of its sagacious discoverer; but more +recently, in order to conform the nomenclature of the planets to the +mythology with which they had been so long connected, has been termed +_Uranus_. This was a vast extension of the limits of the solar system. +The Earth is, as we have already said, nearly a hundred millions of +miles from the Sun. Jupiter is at more than five times, and Saturn +nearly at ten times this distance: but Uranus, it was found, describes +an orbit of which the radius is about nineteen times as great as that of +the Earth. But this did not terminate the extension of the solar system +which the progress of astronomy revealed. In 1846, a new planet, still +more remote, was discovered: its existence having been divined, before +it was seen, by two mathematicians, Mr. Adams, of Cambridge, and M. +Leverrier, of Paris, from the effects of its force upon Uranus. This new +planet was termed Neptune: its distance from the Sun is about thirty +times the Earth's distance. Besides these discoveries of large planets, +a great number of small planets were detected in the region of the solar +system which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This series of +discoveries began on the first day of 1801, when Ceres was detected by +Piazzi at Palermo; and has gone on up to the present time, when +twenty-three of these small bodies have been brought to light; and +probably the group is not yet exhausted. + +3. Now if we have to discuss the probability that all these bodies are +inhabited, we may begin with the outermost of them at present known, +namely Neptune. How far is it likely that this globe is occupied by +living creatures which enjoy, like the creatures on the Earth, the light +and heat of the Sun, about which the planet revolves? It is plain, in +the first place, that this light and heat must be very feeble. Since +Neptune is thirty times as far from the sun as the earth is, the +diameter of the sun as seen from Neptune will only be one-thirtieth as +large as it is, seen from the earth. It will, in fact, be reduced to a +mere star. It will be about the diameter under which Jupiter appears +when he is nearest to us. Of course its brightness will be much greater +than that of Jupiter; nearly as much indeed, as the sun is brighter than +the moon, both being nearly of the same size: but still, with our +full-moonlight reduced to the amount of illumination which we receive +from _a full Jupiter_, and our sun-light reduced in nearly the same +proportion, we should have but a dark, and also a cold world. In fact, +the light and the heat which reach Neptune, so far as they depend on the +distance of the sun, will each be about nine hundred times smaller than +they are on the earth. Now are we to conceive animals, with their vital +powers unfolded, and their vital enjoyments cherished, by this amount of +light and heat? Of course, we cannot say, with certainty, that any +feebleness of light and heat are inconsistent with the existence of +animal life: and if we had good reason to believe that Neptune is +inhabited by animals, we might try to conceive in what manner their +vital scheme is accommodated to this scanty supply of heat and light. If +it were certain that they were there, we might inquire how they could +live there, and what manner of creatures they could be. If there were +any general grounds for assuming inhabitants, we might consider what +modifications of life their particular conditions would require. + +4. But is there any such general ground!? Such a ground we should have, +if we could venture to assume that _all_ the bodies of the Solar System +are inhabited;--if we could proceed upon such a principle, we might +reject or postpone the difficulties of particular cases. + +5. But is such an assumption true? Is such a principle well founded? The +best chance which we have of learning whether it is so, is to endeavor +to ascertain the fact, in the body which is nearest to us; and thus, the +best placed for our closer scrutiny. This is, of course, the Moon; and +with regard to the Moon, we have, again, this advantage in beginning the +inquiry with her:--that she, at least, is in circumstances, as to light +and heat, so far as the Sun's distance affects them, which we know to be +quite consistent with animal and vegetable life. For her distance from +the Sun is not appreciably different from that of the Earth; her +revolutions round the earth do not make nearly so great a difference, in +her distance from the sun, as does the earth's different distances from +the sun in summer and in winter: the fact also being, that the earth is +considerably nearer to the sun in the winter of this our northern +hemisphere, than in the summer. The moon's distance from the sun then, +adapts her for habitation: is she inhabited? + +6. The answer to this question, so far as we can answer it, may involve +something more than those mere astronomical conditions, her distance +from the sun, and the nature of her motions. But still, if we are +compelled to answer it in the negative;--if it appear, by strong +evidence, that the Moon is not inhabited; then is there an end of the +general principle, that, _all_ the bodies of the solar system are +inhabited, and that we must begin our speculations about each, with this +assumption. If the Moon be not inhabited, then, it would seem, the +belief that each special body in the system is inhabited, must depend +upon reasons specially belonging to that body; and cannot be taken for +granted without such reasons. Of the two bodies of the solar system +which alone we can examine closely, so as to know anything about them, +the Earth and the Moon, if the one be inhabited, and the other blank of +inhabitants, we have no right to assume at once, that any other body in +the solar system belongs to the former of these classes rather than to +the latter. If, even under terrestrial conditions of light and heat, we +have a total absence of the phenomenon of life, known to us only as a +terrestrial phenomenon; we are surely not entitled to assume that when +these conditions fail, we have still the phenomenon, life. We are not +entitled to _assume_ it; however it may be capable of being afterwards +proved, in any special case, by special reasons; a question afterwards +to be discussed. + +7. Is, then, the Moon inhabited? From the moon's proximity to us, (she +is distant only thirty diameters of the earth, less than ten times the +earth's circumference; a railroad carriage, at its ordinary rate of +travelling, would reach her in a month,) she can be examined by the +astronomer with peculiar advantages. The present powers of the telescope +enable him to examine her mountains as distinctly as he could the Alps +at a few hundred miles distance, with the naked eye; with the additional +advantage that her mountains are much more brilliantly illuminated by +the Sun, and much more favorably placed for examination, than the Alps +are. He can map and model the inequalities of her surface, as faithfully +and exactly as he can those of the surface of Switzerland. He can trace +the streams that seem to have flowed from eruptive orifices over her +plains, as he can the streams of lava from the craters of Etna or Hecla. + +8. Now, this minute examination of the Moon's surface being possible, +and having been made, by many careful and skilful astronomers, what is +the conviction which has been conveyed to their minds, with regard to +the fact of her being the seat of vegetable or animal life? Without +exception, it would seem, they have all been led to the belief, that the +Moon is not inhabited; that she is, so far as life and organization are +concerned, waste and barren, like the streams of lava or of volcanic +ashes on the earth, before any vestige of vegetation has been impressed +upon them: or like the sands of Africa, where no blade of grass finds +root. It is held, by such observers, that they can discern and examine +portions of the moon's surface as small as a square mile;[1] yet, in +their examination, they have never perceived any alteration, such as the +cycle of vegetable changes through the revolutions of seasons would +produce. Sir William Herschel did not doubt that if a change had taken +place on the visible part of the Moon, as great as the growth or the +destruction of a great city, as great, for instance, as the destruction +of London by the great fire of 1666, it would have been perceptible to +his powers of observation. Yet nothing of the kind has ever been +observed. If there were lunar astronomers, as well provided as +terrestrial ones are, with artificial helps of vision, they would +undoubtedly be able to perceive the differences which the progress of +generations brings about on the surface of our globe; the clearing of +the forests of Germany or North America; the embankment of Holland; the +change of the modes of culture which alter the color of the ground in +Europe; the establishment of great nests of manufactures which shroud +portions of the land in smoke, as those which have their centres at +Birmingham or at Manchester. However obscurely they might discern the +nature of those changes, they would still see that change was going on. +And so should we, if the like changes were going on upon the face of the +Moon. Yet no such changes have ever been noticed. Nor even have such +changes been remarked, as might occur in a mere brute mass without +life;--the formation of new streams of lava, new craters, new crevices, +new elevations. The Moon exhibits strong evidences, which strike all +telescopic observers, of an action resembling, in many respects, +volcanic action, by which its present surface has been formed.[2] But, +if it have been produced by such internal fires, the fires seem to be +extinguished; the volcanoes to be burned out. It is a mere cinder; a +collection of sheets of rigid slag, and inactive craters. And if the +Moon and the Earth were both, at first in a condition in which igneous +eruptions from their interior produced the ridges and cones which +roughen their surfaces; the Earth has had this state succeeded by a +series of states of life in innumerable forms, till at last it has +become the dwelling-place of man; while the Moon, smaller in dimensions, +has at an earlier period completely cooled down, as to its exterior at +least, without ever being judged fit or worthy by its Creator of being +the seat of life; and remains, hung in the sky, as an object on which +man may gaze, and perhaps, from which he may learn something of the +constitution of the universe; and among other lessons this; that he must +not take for granted, that all the other globes of the solar system are +tenanted, like that on which he has his appointed place. + +9. It is true, that in coming to this conclusion, the astronomers of +whom I speak, have been governed by other reasons, besides those which I +have mentioned, the absence of any changes, either rapid or slow, +discoverable in the Moon's face. They have seen reason to believe that +water and air, elements so essential to terrestrial life, do not exist +in the Moon. The dark spaces on her disk, which were called _seas_ by +those who first depicted them, have an appearance inconsistent with +their being oceans of water. They are not level and smooth, as water +would be; nor uniform in their color, but marked with permanent streaks +and shades, implying a rigid form. And the absence of an atmosphere of +transparent vapor and air, surrounding the moon, as our atmosphere +surrounds the earth, is still more clearly proved, by the absence of all +the optical effects of such an atmosphere, when stars pass behind the +moon's disk, and by the phenomena which are seen in solar eclipses, when +her solid mass is masked by the Sun.[3] This absence of moisture and air +in the Moon, of course, entirely confirms our previous conclusion, of +the absence of vegetable and animal life; and leaves us, as we have +said, to examine the question for the other bodies, on their special +grounds, without any previous presumption that such life exists. +Undoubtedly the aspect of the case will be different in one feature, +when we see reason to believe that other bodies have an atmosphere; and +if there be in any planet sufficient light and heat, and clouds and +winds, and a due adjustment of the power of gravity, and the strength of +the materials of which organized frames consist, there may be, so far as +we can judge, life of some kind or other. But yet, even in those cases, +we should be led to judge also, by analogy, that the life which they +sustain is more different from the terrestrial life of the present +period of the earth, than that is from the terrestrial life of any +former geological period, in proportion as the conditions of light and +heat, and attraction and density, are more different on any other +planet, than they can have been on the earth, at any period of its +history. + +10. Let us then consider the state of these elements of being in the +other planets. I have mentioned, among them, the force of gravity, and +the density of materials; because these are important elements in the +question. It may seem strange, that we are able, not only to measure the +planets, but to weigh them; yet so it is. The wonderful discovery of +universal gravitation, so firmly established, as the law which embraces +every particle of matter in the solar system, enables us to do this, +with the most perfect confidence. The revolutions of the satellites +round their primary planets, give us a measure of the force by which the +planets retain them in their orbits; and in this way, a measure of the +quantity of matter of which each planet consists. And other effects of +the same universal law, enable us to measure, though less easily and +less exactly, the masses, even of those planets which have no +satellites. And thus we can, as it were, put the Earth, and Jupiter or +Saturn, in the balance against each other; and tell the proportionate +number of pounds which they would weigh, if so poised. And again, by +another kind of experiment, we can, as we have said, weigh the earth +against a known mountain; or even against a small sphere of lead duly +adjusted for the purpose. And this has been done; and the results are +extremely curious; and very important in our speculations relative to +the constitution of the universe. + +11. And in the first place, we may remark that the Earth is really much +less heavy than we should expect, from what we know of the materials of +which it consists. For, measuring the density, or specific gravity, of +materials, (that is their comparative weight in the same bulk,) by their +proportion to water, which is the usual way, the density of iron is 8, +that of lead 11, that of gold 19: the ordinary rocks at the Earth's +surface have a density of 3 or 4. Moreover, all the substances with +which we are acquainted, contract into a smaller space, and have their +density increased, by being subjected to pressure. Air does this, in an +obvious manner; and hence it is, that the lower parts of our atmosphere +are denser than the upper parts; being pressed by a greater +superincumbent weight, the weight of the superior parts of the +atmosphere itself. Air is thus obviously and eminently elastic. But all +substances, though less obviously and eminently, are still, really, and +in some degree, elastic. They all contract by compression. Water for +instance, if pressed by a column of water 100000 feet high, would be +reduced to a bulk one-tenth less than before. In the same manner iron, +compressed by a column of iron 90000 feet high, loses one-tenth of its +bulk, and of course gains so much in density. And the like takes place, +in different amounts, with all material whatever. This is the rate at +which compression produces its effect of increasing the density, in +bodies which are in the condition of those which lie around us. But if +this law were to go on at the same rate, when the compression is +greatly increased, the density of bodies deep down towards the centre of +the Earth must be immense. The Earth's radius is above 20 million feet. +At a million feet depth we should have matter subjected to the pressure +of a column of a million feet of superincumbent matter, heavier than +water; and hence we should have a compression of water 10 times as great +as we have mentioned; and, therefore, the bulk of the water would be +reduced almost to nothing, its density increased almost indefinitely: +and the same would be the case with other materials, as metals and +stones. If, therefore, this law of compression were to hold for these +great pressures, all materials whatever, contained in the depths of the +Earth's mass, must be immensely denser, and immensely specifically +heavier, than they are at the surface. And thus, the Earth consisting of +these far denser materials towards the centre, but, nearer the surface, +of lighter materials, such as rock, and metals, in their ordinary state, +must, we should expect, be, on the whole, much heavier than if it +consisted of the heaviest ordinary materials; heavier than iron, or than +lead; hundreds of times perhaps heavier than stone. + +12. This, however, is not found to be so. The expectation of the great +density of the Earth, which we might have derived from the known laws of +condensation of terrestrial substances, is not confirmed. The mass of +the Earth being weighed, by means of such processes as we have already +referred to, is found to be only five times heavier than so much water: +less heavy than if it were made of iron: less than twice as heavy as if +it were made of ordinary rock. This, of course, shows us that the +condensation of the interior parts of the Earth's mass, is by no means +so great as we should have expected it to be, from what we know of the +laws of condensation here; and from considering the enormous pressure of +superincumbent materials to which those interior parts are subjected. +The laws of condensation, it would seem, do not go on operating for +these enormous pressures, by the same progression as for smaller +pressure. If a mass of a material is compressed into nine-tenths its +bulk by the weight of a column of 100000 feet high, it does not follow +that it will be again compressed into nine-tenths of its condensed bulk, +by another column of 100000 feet high. The compression and condensation +reach, or tend to, a limit; and probably, before they have gone very +far. It may be possible to compress a piece of iron by one-thousandth +part, even by such forces as we can use; and yet it may not be possible +to compress the same piece of iron into one half its bulk, even by the +weight of the whole Earth, if made to bear upon it. This appears to be +probable: and this will explain, how it is, that the materials of the +Earth are not so violently condensed as we should have supposed; and +thus, why, the Earth is so light. + +13. We must avoid drawing inferences too boldly, on a subject where our +means of knowledge are so obscure as they are with regard to the +interior of the Earth; but yet, perhaps, we may be allowed to say, that +the result which we have just stated, that the Earth is so light, +suggests to us the belief that the interior consists of the same +materials as the exterior, slightly condensed by pressure.[4] We find no +encouragement to believe that there is a nucleus within, of some +material, different from what we have on the outside; some metal, for +instance, heavier than lead. If the earth were of granite, or of lava, +to the centre, it would, so far as we can judge, have much the same +weight which it now has. Such a central mass, covered with the various +layers of stone, which form the upper crust of the Earth, would +naturally make this globe of at least the weight which it really has. +And therefore, if we were to learn that a planet was much lighter than +this, as to its materials,--much less dense, taking the whole mass +together,--we should be compelled to infer that it was, throughout, or +nearly so, formed of less compact matter than metal and stone; or else, +that it had internal cavities, or some other complex structure, which it +would be absurd to assume, without positive reasons. + +14. Now having decided these views from an examination of the Earth, let +us apply them to other planets, as bearing upon the question of their +being inhabited; and in the first place, to Jupiter. We can, as we have +said, easily compare the mass of Jupiter and of the Earth; for both of +them have Satellites. It is ascertained, by this means, that the mass of +weight of Jupiter is about 333 times the weight of the earth; but as his +diameter is also 11 times that of the earth, his bulk is 1331 times that +of the earth: (the _cube_ of 11 is 1331); and, therefore, the density of +Jupiter is to that of the earth, only as 333 to 1331, or about 1 to 4. +Thus the density of Jupiter, taken as a whole, is about a quarter of the +earth's density; less than that of any of the stones which form the +crust of the earth; and not much greater than the density of water. +Indeed, it is tolerably certain, that the density of Jupiter is not +greater than it would be, if his entire globe were composed of water; +making allowance for the compression which the interior parts would +suffer by the pressure of those parts superincumbent. We might, +therefore, offer it as a conjecture not quite arbitrary, that Jupiter is +a mere sphere of water. + +15. But is there anything further in the appearance of Jupiter, which +may serve to contradict, or to confirm, this conjecture? There is one +circumstance in Jupiter's form, which is, to say the least, perfectly +consistent with the supposition, that he is a fluid mass; namely, that +he is not an exact sphere, but oblate, like an orange. Such a form is +produced, in a fluid sphere, by a rotation upon its axis. It is +produced, even in a sphere which is (at present at least,) partly solid +and partly fluid; and the oblateness of the earth is accounted for in +this way. But Jupiter, who, while he is much larger than the earth, +revolves much more rapidly, is much more oblate than the earth. His +polar and equatorial diameters are in the proportion of 13 to 14. Now it +is a remarkable circumstance, that this is the amount of oblateness, +which, on mechanical principles, would result from his time of +revolution, if he were entirely fluid, and of the same density +throughout.[5] So far, then, we have some confirmation at least, of his +being composed entirely of some fluid which in its density agrees with +water. + +16. But there are other circumstances in the appearances of Jupiter, +which still further confirm this conjecture of his watery constitution. +His belts,--certain bands of darker and lighter color, which run +parallel to his equator, and which, in some degree, change their form, +and breadth, and place, from time to time,--have been conjectured, by +almost all astronomers, to arise from lines of cloud, alternating with +tracts comparatively clear, and having their direction determined by +currents analogous to our trade-winds, but of a much more steady and +decided character, in consequence of the great rotatory velocity.[6] +Now vapors, supplying the materials of such masses of cloud, would +naturally be raised from such a watery sphere as we have supposed, by +the action of the Sun; would form such lines; and would change their +form from slight causes of irregularity, as the belts are seen to do. +The existence of these lines of cloud does of itself show that there is +much water on Jupiter's surface, and is quite consistent with our +conjecture, that his whole mass is water.[7] + +17. Perhaps some persons may be disposed to doubt whether, if Jupiter +be, as we suppose, merely or principally a mass of water and of vapor, +we are entitled to extend to him the law of universal gravitation, which +is the basis of our speculations. But this doubt may be easily +dismissed. We know that the waters of the earth are affected by +gravitation; not only towards the earth, as shown by their weight, but +towards those distant bodies, the Sun and the Moon; for this gravitation +produces the tides of the ocean. And our atmosphere also has weight, as +we know; and probably has also solar and lunar tides, though these are +marked by many other causes of diurnal change. We have, then, the same +reason for supposing that air and water, in other parts of the system, +are governed by universal gravitation, and exercise themselves the +attractive force of gravitation, which we have for making the like +suppositions with regard to the most solid bodies. Whatever argument +proves universal gravitation, proves it for all matter alike; and +Newton, in the course of his magnificent generalization of the law, took +care to demonstrate, by experiment, as well as by reasoning, that it +might be so generalized. + +18. As bearing upon the question of life in Jupiter, there is another +point which requires to be considered; the force of gravity at his +surface. Though, equal bulk for equal bulk, he is lighter than the +earth, yet his bulk is so great that, as we have seen, he is altogether +much heavier than the earth. This, his greater mass, makes bodies, at +equal distances from the centres, ponderate proportionally more to him +than they would do to the earth. And though his surface is 11 times +further from his centre than the earth's is, and therefore the gravity +at the surface is thereby diminished, yet, even after this deduction, +gravity at the surface of Jupiter is nearly two and a half times that on +the earth.[8] And thus a man transferred to the surface of Jupiter would +feel a stone, carried in his hands, and would feel his own limbs also, +(for his muscular power would not be altered by the transfer,) become +2-1/2 times as heavy, as difficult to raise, as they were before. Under +such circumstances animals of large dimensions would be oppressed with +their own weight. In the smaller creatures on the earth, as in insects, +the muscular power bears a great proportion to the weight, and they +might continue to run and to leap, even if gravity were tripled or +quadrupled. But an elephant could not trot with two or three elephants +placed upon his back. A lion or tiger could not spring, with twice or +thrice his own weight hung about his neck. Such an increase of gravity +would be inconsistent then, with the present constitution and life of +the largest terrestrial animals; and if we are to suppose planets +inhabited, in which gravity is much more energetic than it is upon the +earth, we must suppose classes of animals which are adapted to such a +different mechanical condition. + +19. Taking into account then, these circumstances in Jupiter's state; +his (probably) bottomless waters; his light, if any, solid materials; +the strong hand with which gravity presses down such materials as there +are; the small amount of light and heat which reaches him, at 5 times +the earth's distance from the sun; what kind of inhabitants shall we be +led to assign to him? Can they have skeletons where no substance so +dense as bone is found, at least in large masses? It would seem not +probable.[9] And it would seem they must be dwellers in the waters, for +against the existence there of solid land, we have much evidence. They +must, with so little of light and heat, have a low degree of vitality. +They must then, it would seem, be cartilaginous and glutinous masses; +peopling the waters with minute forms: perhaps also with larger +monsters; for the weight of a bulky creature, floating in the fluid, +would be much more easily sustained than on solid ground. If we are +resolved to have such a population, and that they shall live by food, we +must suppose that the waters contain at least so much solid matter as is +requisite for the sustenance of the lowest classes; for the higher +classes of animals will probably find their food in consuming the lower. +I do not know whether the advocates of peopled worlds will think such a +population as this worth contending for: but I think the only doubt can +be, between such a population, and none. If Jupiter be a mere mass of +water, with perhaps a few cinders at the centre, and an envelope of +clouds around it, it seems very possible that he may not be the seat of +life at all. But if life be there, it does not seem in any way likely, +that the living things can be anything higher in the scale of being, +than such boneless, watery, pulpy creatures as I have imagined. + +20. Perhaps it may occur to some one to ask, if this planet, which +presents so glorious an aspect to our eyes, be thus the abode only of +such imperfect and embryotic lumps of vitality as I have described; to +what purpose was all that gorgeous array of satellites appended to him, +which would present, to intelligent spectators on his surface, a +spectacle far more splendid than any that our skies offer to us: four +moons, some as great, and others hardly less, than our moon, performing +their regular revolutions in the vault of heaven. To which it will +suffice, at present, to reply, that the use of those moons, under such a +supposition, would be precisely the same, as the use of our moon, during +the myriads of years which elapsed while the earth was tenanted by +corals and madrepores, shell-fish and belemnites, the cartilaginous +fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, or the Saurian monsters of the Lias; +and in short, through all the countless ages which elapsed, before the +last few thousand years: before man was placed upon the earth "to eye +the blue vault and bless the _useful_ light:" to reckon by it his months +and years: to discover by means of it, the structure of the universe, +and perhaps, the special care of his Creator for him alone of all his +creatures. The moons of Jupiter, may in this way be of use, as our own +moon is. Indeed we know that they have been turned to most important +purposes, in astronomy and navigation. And knowing this, we may be +content not to know how, either the satellites of Jupiter, or the +satellite of the Earth, tend to the advantage of the brute inhabitants +of the waters. + +21. There is another point, connected with this doctrine of the watery +nature of Jupiter, which I may notice, though we have little means of +knowledge on the subject. Jupiter being thus covered with water, is the +water ever converted into ice? The planet is more than 5 times as far +from the sun as the earth is: the heat which he receives is, on that +account, 25 times less than ours. The veil of clouds which covers a +large part of his surface, must diminish the heat still further. What +effect the absence of land produces, on the freezing of the ocean, it is +not easy to say. We cannot, therefore, pronounce with any confidence +whether his waters are ever frozen or not. In the next considerable +planet, Mars, astronomers conceive that they do trace the effects of +frost; but in Mars we have also appearances of land. In Jupiter, we are +left to mere conjecture; whether continents and floating islands of ice +still further chill the fluids of the slimy tribes whom we have been led +to regard as the only possible inhabitants; or whether the watery globe +is converted into a globe of ice; retaining on its surface, of course, +as much fluid as is requisite, under the evaporating power of the sun, +to supply the currents of vapor which form the belts. In this case, +perhaps, we may think it most likely that there are no inhabitants of +these shallow pools in a planet of ice: at any rate, it is not worth +while to provide any new speculations for such a hypothesis. + +22. We may turn our consideration from Jupiter to Saturn; for in many +respects the two planets are very similar. But in almost every point, +which is of force against the hypothesis of inhabitants, the case is +much stronger in Saturn than it is in Jupiter. Light and heat, at his +distance, are only one ninetieth of those at the Earth. None but a very +low degree of vitality can be sustained under such sluggish influences. +The density of his mass is hardly greater than that of cork; much less +than that of water: so that, it does not appear what supposition is left +for us, except that a large portion of the globe, which we see as his, +is vapor. That the outer part of the globe is vapor, is proved, in +Saturn as in Jupiter, by the existence of several cloudy streaks or +belts running round him parallel to his equator. Yet his mass, taken +altogether, is considerable, on account of his great size; and gravity +would be greater, at his outer surface, than it is at the earth's. For +such reasons, then, as were urged in the case of Jupiter, we must either +suppose that he has no inhabitants; or that they are aqueous, gelatinous +creatures; too sluggish, almost to be deemed alive, floating on their +ice-cold waters, shrouded forever by their humid skies. + +23. Whether they have eyes or no, we cannot tell; but probably if they +had, they would never see the Sun; and therefore we need not commiserate +their lot in not seeing the host of Saturnian satellites; and the Ring, +which to an intelligent Saturnian spectator, would be so splendid a +celestial object. The Ring is a glorious object for man's view, and his +contemplation; and therefore is not altogether without its use. Still +less need we (as some appear to do) regard as a serious misfortune to +the inhabitants of certain regions of the planet, a solar eclipse of +fifteen years' duration, to which they are liable by the interposition +of the Ring between them and the Sun.[10] + +24. The cases of Uranus and Neptune are similar to that of Saturn, but +of course stronger, in proportion to their smaller light and heat. For +Uranus, this is only 1-360th, for Neptune, as we have already said, +1-900th of the light and heat at the earth. Moreover, these two new +planets agree with Jupiter and with Saturn, in being of very large size +and of very small density; and also we may remark, one of them, probably +both, in revolving with great rapidity, and in nearly the same period, +namely, about 10 hours: at least, this has been the opinion of +astronomers with regard to Uranus. The arguments against the hypothesis +of these two planets being inhabited, are of course of the same kind as +in the case of Jupiter and Saturn, but much increased in strength; and +the supposition of the probably watery nature and low vitality of their +inhabitants must be commended to the consideration of those who contend +for inhabitants in those remote regions of the solar system. + +25. We may now return towards the Sun, and direct our attention to the +planet Mars. Here we have some approximation to the condition of the +Earth, in circumstances, as in position. It is true, his light and heat, +so far as distance from the Sun affects them, are less than half those +at the Earth. His density appears to be nearly equal to that of the +Earth, but his mass is so much smaller, that gravity at his surface is +only one-half of what it is here. Then, as to his physical condition, +so far as we can determine it, astronomers discern in his face[11] the +outlines of continents and seas. The ruddy color by which he is +distinguished, the red and fiery aspect which he presents, arise, they +think, from the color of the land, while the seas appear greenish. +Clouds often seem to intercept the astronomer's view of the globe, which +with its continents and oceans thus revolves under his eye; and that +there is an atmosphere on which such clouds may float, appears to be +further proved, by brilliant white spots at the poles of the planet, +which are conjectured to be snow; for they disappear when they have been +long exposed to the sun, and are greatest when just emerging from the +long night of their polar winter; the snow-line then extending to about +six degrees (reckoned upon the meridian of the planet) from the pole. +Moreover, Mars agrees with the earth, in the period of his rotation; +which is about 24 hours; and in having his axis inclined to his orbit, +so as to produce a cycle of long and short days and nights, a return of +summer and winter, in every revolution of the planet. + +26. We have here a number of circumstances which speak far more +persuasively for a similarity of condition, in this planet and the +Earth, than in any of the cases previously discussed. It is true, Mars +is much smaller than the earth, and has not been judged worthy of the +attendance of a satellite, although further from the Sun; but still, he +may have been judged worthy of inhabitants by his Creator. Perhaps we +are not quite certain about the existence of an atmosphere; and without +such an appendage, we can hardly accord him tenants. But if he have +inhabitants, let us consider of what kind they must be conceived to be, +according to any judgment which we can form. The force of his gravity is +so small, that we may allow his animals to be large, without fearing +that they will break down by their own weight. In a planet so dense, +they may very likely have solid skeletons. The ice about his poles will +cumber the seas, cold even for the want of solar heat, as it does in our +arctic and antarctic oceans; and we may easily imagine that these seas +are tenanted, like those, by huge creatures of the nature of whales and +seals, and by other creatures which the existence of these requires and +implies. Or rather, since, as we have said, we must suppose the +population of other planets to be more different from our existing +population, than the population of other ages of our own planet, we may +suppose the population of the seas and of the land of Mars, (if there be +any, and if we are not carrying it too high in the scale of vital +activity,) to differ from any terrestrial animals, in something of the +same way in which the great land and sea saurians, or the iguanodon and +dinotherium, differed from the animals which now live on the earth. + +27. That we need not discuss the question, whether there are intelligent +beings living on the surface of Mars, perhaps the reader will allow, +till we have some better evidence that there are living things there at +all; if he calls to mind the immense proportion which, on the earth, far +better fitted for the habitation of the only intelligent creature which +we know or can conceive, the duration of unintelligent life has borne to +that of intelligent. Here, on this Earth, a few thousand years ago, +began the life of a creature who can speculate about the past and the +future, the near and the absent, the Universe and its Maker, duty and +immortality. This began a few thousand years ago, after ages and myriads +of ages, after immense varieties of lives and generations, of corals and +mollusks, saurians, iguanodons, and dinotheriums. No doubt the Creator +might place an intelligent creature upon a planet, without all this +preparation, all this preliminary life. He has not chosen to do so on +the earth, as we know; and that is by much the best evidence attainable +by us, of what His purposes are. It is also possible that He should, on +another planet, have established creatures of the nature of corals and +mollusks, saurians and iguanodons, without having yet arrived at the +period of intelligent creatures: especially if that other planet have +longer years, a colder climate, a smaller mass, and perhaps no +atmosphere. It is also possible that He should have put that smaller +planet near the Earth, resembling it in some respects, as the Moon does, +but without any inhabitants, as she has none; and that Mars may be such +a planet. The probability against such a belief can hardly be considered +as strong, if the arguments already offered be regarded as effective +against the opinion of inhabitants in the other planets, and in the +Moon. + +28. The numerous tribe of small bodies, which revolve between Jupiter +and Mars, do not admit of much of the kind of reasoning, which we have +applied to the larger planets. They have, with perhaps one exception +(Vesta) no disk of visible magnitude; they are mere dots, and we do not +even know that their form is spherical. The near coincidence of their +orbits has suggested, to astronomers, the conjecture that they have +resulted from the explosion of a larger body, and from its fracture into +fragments. Perhaps the general phenomena of the universe suggest rather +the notion of a collapse of portions of sidereal matter, than of a +sudden disruption and dispersion of any portion of it; and these small +bodies may be the results of some imperfectly effected concentration of +the elements of our system; which, if it had gone on more completely and +regularly, might have produced another planet, like Mars or Venus. +Perhaps they are only the larger masses, among a great number of smaller +ones, resulting from such a process: and it is very conceivable, that +the meteoric stones which, from time to time, have fallen upon the +earth's surface, are other results of the like process:--bits of planets +which have failed in the making, and lost their way, till arrested by +the resistance of the earth's atmosphere. A remarkable circumstance in +these bodies is, that though thus coming apparently from some remote +part of the system, they contain no elements but such as had already +been found to exist in the mass of the earth; although some substances, +as nickel and chrome, which are somewhat rare in the earth's materials, +are common parts of the composition of meteoric stones. Also they are of +crystalline structure, and exhibit some peculiarities in their +crystallization. Such as these strange visitors are, they seem to show +that the other parts of the solar system contain the same elementary +substances, and are subject to the same laws of chemical synthesis and +crystalline force, which obtain in the terrestrial region. The smallness +of these specimens is a necessary condition of their reaching us; for if +they had been more massive, they would have followed out the path of +their orbits round the sun, however eccentric these might be. The great +eccentricity of the smaller planets, their great deviation from the +zodiacal path, which is the highway of the large planets, their great +number, probably by no means yet exhausted by the discoveries of +astronomers; all fall in with the supposition that there are, in the +solar system, a vast multitude of such abnormal planetoidal lumps. As I +have said, we do not even know that they are approximately spherical; +and if they are of the nature of meteoric stones, they are mere crude +and irregularly crystallized masses of metal and earth. It will +therefore, probably, be deemed unnecessary to give other reasons why +these planetoids are not inhabited. But if it be granted that they are +not, we have here, in addition to the moon, a large array of examples, +to prove how baseless is the assumption, that all the bodies of the +solar system are the seats of life. + +29. We have thus performed our journey from the extremest verge of the +Universe, so far as we have any knowledge of it, to the orbit of our own +planet; and have found, till we came into our own most immediate +vicinity, strong reasons for rejecting the assumption of inhabited +worlds like our own; and indeed, of the habitation of worlds in any +sense. And even if Mars, in his present condition, may be some image of +the Earth, in some of its remote geological periods, it is at least +equally possible that he may be an image of the Earth, in the still +remoter geological period before life began. Of peculiar fitnesses which +make the earth suited to the sustentation of life, as we know that it +is, we shall speak hereafter; and at present pass on to the other +planets, Venus and Mercury. But of these, there is, in our point of +view, very little to say. Venus, which, when nearest to us, fills a +larger angle than any other celestial body, except the Sun and the Moon, +might be expected to be the one of which we know most. Yet she is really +one of the most difficult to scrutinize with our telescopes. Astronomers +cannot discover in her, as in Mars, any traces of continents and seas, +mountains and valleys; at least with any certainty.[12] Her illuminated +part shines with an intense lustre which dazzles the sight;[13] yet she +is of herself perfectly dark; and it was the discovery, that she +presented the phases of the Moon, made by the telescope of Galileo, +which gave the first impulse to planetary research. She is almost as +large as the earth; almost as heavy. The light and heat which she +receives from the Sun must be about double those which come to the +earth. We discern no traces of a gaseous or watery atmosphere +surrounding her. Perhaps if we could see her better, we might find that +she had a surface like the moon; or perhaps, in the nearer neighborhood +of the sun, she may have cooled more slowly and quietly, like a glass +which is annealed in the fire; and hence, may have a smooth surface, +instead of the furrowed and pimpled visage which the Moon presents to +us. With this ignorance of her conditions, it is hard to say what kind +of animals we could place in her, if we were disposed to people her +surface; except perhaps the microscopic creatures, with siliceous +coverings, which, as modern explorers assert, are almost indestructible +by heat. To believe that she has a surface like the earth, and tribes of +animals, like terrestrial animals, and like man, is an exercise of +imagination, which not only is quite gratuitous, but contrary to all the +information which the telescope gives us; and with this remark, we may +dismiss the hypothesis. + +30. Of Mercury we know still less. He receives seven times as much light +and heat as the Earth; is much smaller than the earth, but perhaps more +dense; and has not, so far as we can tell, any of the conditions which +make animal existence conceivable. If it is so difficult to find +suitable inhabitants for Venus, the difficulty for Mercury is immensely +greater. + +31. So far then, we have traversed the Solar System, and have found even +here, the strongest grounds that there can be no animal existence, like +that which alone we can conceive as animal existence, except in the +planet next beyond the earth, Mars; and there, not without great +modifications. But we may make some further remarks on the condition of +the several planets, with regard to what appears to us to be the +necessary elements of animal life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] More recently, at the meeting of the British Association in +September, 1853, Professor Phillips has declared, that astronomers can +discern the shape of a spot on the Moon's surface, which is a few +hundred feet in breadth. + +[2] A person visiting the Eifel, a region of extinct volcanoes, west of +the Rhine, can hardly fail to be struck with the resemblance of the +craters there, to those seen in the moon through a telescope. + +[3] Bessel has discussed and refuted (it was hardly necessary) the +conjecture of some persons (he describes them as "the feeling hearts who +would find sympathy even in the Moon") that there may be in the Moon's +valleys air enough to support life, though it does not rise above the +hills.--_Populäre Vorlesungen_, p. 78. + +[4] The doctrine that the interior nucleus of the Earth is fluid, +whether accepted or rejected, does not materially affect this argument. +It appears, that in some cases, at least, the melting of substances is +prevented, by their being subjected to extreme pressure; but the +density, the element from which we reason, is measured by methods quite +independent of such questions. + +[5] Herschel, 512. Bessel, however, holds that the oblateness of Jupiter +proves that his interior is somewhat denser than his exterior. _Pop. +Vorles._ p. 91. + +[6] Herschel, 513. + +[7] A difficulty may be raised, founded on what we may suppose to be the +fact, as to the extreme cold of those regions of the Solar System. It +may be supposed that water under such a temperature could exist in no +other form than ice. And that the cold must there be intense, according +to our notion, there is strong reason to believe. Even in the outer +regions of our atmosphere, the cold is probably very many degrees below +freezing, and in the blank and airless void beyond, it may be colder +still. It has been calculated by physical philosophers, on grounds which +seem to be solid, that the cold of the space beyond our atmosphere is +100° below zero. The space near to Jupiter, if an absolute vacuum, in +which there is no matter to receive and retain heat emitted from the +Sun, may, perhaps, be no colder than it is nearer the Sun. And as to the +effect the great cold would produce on Jupiter's watery material, we may +remark, that if there be a free surface, there will be vapor produced by +the Sun's heat; and if there be air, there will be clouds. We may add, +that so far as we have reason to believe, below the freezing point, no +accession of cold produces any material change in ice. Even in the +expeditions of our Arctic navigators, a cold of 40° below zero was +experienced, and ice was still but ice, and there were vapors and clouds +as in our climate. It is quite an arbitrary assumption, to suppose that +any cold which may exist in Jupiter would prevent the state of things +which we suppose. + +[8] Herschel, 508. + +[9] It may be thought fanciful to suppose that because there is little +or no solid matter (of any kind known to us) in Jupiter, his animals are +not likely to have solid skeletons. The analogy is not very strong; but +also, the weight assigned to it in the argument is small. _Valeat +quantum valere debet._ + +[10] Herschel, 522. + +[11] Herschel, 510. + +[12] According to Bessel, Schroeter _once_ saw one bright point on the +dark ground, near the boundary of light in Venus. This was taken as +proving a mountain, estimated at 60,000 feet high. _Pop. Vorles._ p. 86. + +[13] Herschel, 509. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THEORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. + + +1. We have given our views respecting the various planets which +constitute the Solar System;--views established, it would seem, by all +that we know, of the laws of heat and moisture, density and attraction, +organization and life. We have examined and reasoned upon the cases of +the different planets separately. But it may serve to confirm this view, +and to establish it in the reader's mind, if we give a description of +the system which shall combine and connect the views which we have +presented, of the constitution and peculiarities, as to physical +circumstances, of each of the planets. It will help us in our +speculations, if we can regard the planets not only as a collection, but +as a scheme;--if we can give, not an enumeration only, but a theory. Now +such a scheme, such a theory, appears to offer itself to us. + +2. The planets exterior to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn especially, as the +best known of them, appear, by the best judgment which we can form, to +be spheres of water, and of aqueous vapor, combined, it may be, with +atmospheric air, in which their cloudy belts float over their deep +oceans. Mars seems to have some portion at least of aqueous atmosphere; +the earth, we know, has a considerable atmosphere of air, and of vapor; +but the Moon, so near to her mistress, has none. On Venus and Mercury, +we see nothing of a gaseous or aqueous atmosphere; and they, and Mars, +do not differ much in their density from the Earth. Now, does not this +look as if the water and the vapor, which belong to the solar system, +were driven off into the outer regions of its vast circuit; while the +solid masses which are nearest to the focus of heat, are all +approximately of the same nature? And if this be so, what is the +peculiar physical condition which we are led to ascribe to the Earth? +Plainly this: that she is situated just in that region of the system, +where the existence of matter, both in a solid, a fluid, and a gaseous +condition, is possible. Outside the Earth's orbit, or at least outside +Mars and the small Planetoids, there is, in the planets, apparently, no +solid matter; or rather, if there be, there is a vast preponderance of +watery and vaporous matter. Inside the Earth's orbit, we see, in the +planets, no traces of water or vapor, or gas; but solid matter, about +the density of terrestrial matter. The Earth, alone, is placed at the +border where the conditions of life are combined; ground to stand upon; +air to breathe; water to nourish vegetables, and thus, animals; and +solid matter to supply the materials for their more solid parts; and +with this, a due supply of light and heat, a due energy of the force of +weight. All these conditions are, in our conception, requisite for life: +that all these conditions meet, elsewhere than in the neighborhood of +the Earth's orbit, we see strong reasons to disbelieve. The Earth, then, +it would seem, is the abode of life, not because all the globes which +revolve round the Sun may be assumed to be the abodes of life; but +because the Earth is fitted to be so, by a curious and complex +combination of properties and relations, which do not at all apply to +the others. That the Earth is inhabited, is not a reason for believing +that the other Planets are so, but for believing that they are not so. + +3. Can we see any physical reason, for the fact which appears to us so +probable, that all the water and vapor of the system is gathered in its +outward parts? It would seem that we can. Water and aqueous vapor are +driven from the Sun to the outer parts of the solar system, or are +allowed to be permanent there only, as they are driven off and retained +at a distance by any other source of heat;--to use a homely +illustration, as they are driven from wet objects placed near the +kitchen-fire: as they are driven from the hot sands of Egypt into the +upper air: as they are driven from the tropics to the poles. In this +latter case, and generally, in all cases, in which vapor is thus driven +from a hotter region, when it comes into a colder, it may again be +condensed in water, and fall in rain. So the cold of the air in the +temperate zone condenses the aqueous vapors which flow from the tropics; +and so, we have our clouds and our showers. And as there is this rainy +region, indistinctly defined, between the torrid and the frigid zones on +the earth; so is there a region of clouds and rain, of air and water, +much more precisely defined, in the solar system, between the central +torrid zone and the external frigid zone which surrounds the Sun at a +greater distance. + +4. _The Earth's Orbit is the Temperate Zone of the Solar System._ In +that Zone only is the play of Hot and Cold, of Moist and Dry, possible. +The Torrid Zone of the Earth is not free from moisture; it has its +rains, for it has its upper colder atmosphere. But how much hotter are +Venus and Mercury than the Torrid Zone? There, no vapors can linger; +they are expelled by the fierce solar energy; and there is no cool +stratum to catch them and return them. If they were there, they must fly +to the outer regions; to the cold abodes of Jupiter and Saturn, if on +their way, the Earth did not with cold and airy finger outstretched +afar, catch a few drops of their treasures, for the use of plant, and +beast, and man. The solid stone only, and the metallic ore which can be +fused and solidified with little loss of substance, can bear the +continual force of the near solar fire, and be the material of permanent +solid planets in that region. But the lava pavement of the Inner Planets +bears no superstructure of life; for all life would be scorched away +along with water, its first element. On the Earth first, can this +superstructure be raised; and there, through we know not what graduation +of forms, the waters were made to bring forth abundantly things that had +life; plants, and animals nourished by plants, and conspiring with them, +to feed on their respective appointed elements, in the air which +surrounded them. And so, nourished by the influences of air and water, +plants and animals lived and died, and were entombed in the scourings of +the land, which the descending streams carried to the bottom of the +waters. And then, these beds of dead generations were raised into +mountain ranges; perhaps by the yet unextinguished forces of +subterraneous fires. And then a new creation of plants and animals +succeeded; still living under the fostering influence of the united +pair, Air and Water, which never ceased to brood over the World of Life, +their Nurseling; and then, perhaps, a new change of the limits of land +and water, and a new creation again: till at last, Man was placed upon +the Earth; with far higher powers, and far different purposes, from any +of the preceding tribes of creatures: and with this, for one of his +offices;--that there might be an intelligent being to learn how +wonderfully the scheme of creation had been carried on, and to admire, +and to worship the Creator. + +5. But we have a few more remarks to make on the structure of the Solar +System, in this point of view. When we say that the water and vapor of +the System were driven to the outer parts, or retained there, by the +central heat of the Sun, perhaps it might be supposed to be most simple +and natural, that the aqueous vapor, and the water, should assume its +place in a distinct circle, or rather a spherical shell, of which the +Sun was the centre; thus making an elemental sphere about the centre, +such as the ancients imagined in their schemes of the Universe. Nor will +we venture to say that such an arrangement of elements might not be; +though perhaps it might be shown that no stable equilibrium of the +system would be, in this way, mechanically possible. But this at least +we may say; that a rotatory motion of all the parts of the universe +appears to be a universal law prevalent in it, so far as our observation +can reach: and that, by such rotation of the separate masses, the whole +is put in a condition which is everywhere one of stable equilibrium. It +was, then, agreeable to the general scheme, that the excess of water and +vapor, which must necessarily be carried away, or stored up, in the +outer regions of the System, should be put into shapes in which it +should have a permanent place and form. And thus, it is suitable to the +general economy of creation, that this water and vapor should be packed +into rotating masses, such as are Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and +Neptune. When once collected in such rotating masses, the attraction of +its parts would gather it into spheroidal forms; oblate by the effect of +rotation, as Jupiter, or perhaps into annular forms, like the Ring of +Saturn;[1] for such also is a mechanically possible form of equilibrium, +for a fluid mass. And these spheroids once formed, the water would form +a central nucleus, over which would hang a cover of vapor, raised by +the evaporating power of the Sun, and forming clouds, where the rarity +of the upper strata of vapor allowed the cold of the external space to +act; and these clouds, spun into belts by the rotation of the sphere. +And thus, the vapor, which would otherwise have wandered loose about the +atmosphere, was neatly wound into balls; which, again, were kept in +their due place, by being made to revolve in nearly circular orbits +about the Sun. + +6. And thus, according to our view, water and gases, clouds and vapors, +form mainly the planets in the outer part of the solar system; while +masses such as result from the fusion of the most solid materials, lie +nearer the sun, and are found principally within the orbit of +Jupiter.[2] To conceive planetary systems as formed by the gradual +contraction of a nebular mass, and by the solidification of some of its +parts, is a favorite notion of several speculators. If we adopt this +notion, we shall, I think, find additional proofs in favor of our view +of the system. For, in the first place, we have the zodiacal light, a +nebulous appendage to the Sun, as Herschel conceives, extending beyond +the orbits of Mercury and Venus. These planets, then, have not yet fully +emerged from the atmosphere in which they had their origin:--the +_mother-light_ and _mother-fire_, in which they began to crystallize, as +crystals do in their mother-water. Though they are already opaque, they +are still immersed in luminous vapor: and bearing such traces of their +chaotic state being not yet ended, we need not wonder, if we find no +evidence of their having inhabitants, and some evidence to the contrary. +They are within a nebular region, which may easily be conceived to be +uninhabitable. And where this nebular region, marked by the zodiacal +light, terminates, the world of life begins, namely at the Earth. + +7. But further, outside this region of the Earth, what do we find in the +solar system? Of solid matter, if our views are right, we find nothing +but an immense number of small bodies; namely, first, Mars, who, as we +have said, is only about one-eighth the earth in mass: the twenty-six +small planetoids, (or whatever number may have been discovered when +these pages meet the reader's eye,[3]) between Mars and Jupiter; the +four satellites of Jupiter; the eight satellites of Saturn; the six (if +that be the true number,) satellites of Uranus; and the one satellite of +Neptune, already detected. It is very remarkable, that all this array of +small bodies begins to be found just outside the Earth's orbit. +Supposing, as we have found so much reason to suppose, that Jupiter, and +the other exterior planets, are not solid bodies, but masses of water +and of vapor; the existence of great solid planetary masses, such as +exist in the region of the Earth's orbit, is succeeded externally by the +existence of a vast number of smaller bodies. The real quantity of +matter in these smaller bodies we cannot in general determine. Perhaps +the largest of them, (after Mars,) may be Jupiter's third satellite; +which[4] is reckoned, by Laplace, to have a mass less than 1-10,000th of +that of Jupiter himself; and thus, since Jupiter, as we have seen, has a +mass 333 times that of the Earth, the satellite would be above 1-30th of +the Earth's mass.[5] That none but masses of this size, and many far +below this, are found outside of Mars, appears to indicate, that the +_planet-making_ powers which were efficacious to this distance from the +sun, and which produced the great globe of the Earth, were, beyond this +point, feebler; so that they could only give birth to smaller masses; to +planetoids, to satellites, and to meteoric stones. Perhaps we may +describe this want of energy in the planet-making power, by saying, that +at so great a distance from the central fire, there was not heat enough +to melt together these smaller fragments into a larger globe;[6] or +rather, when they existed in a nebular, perhaps in a gaseous state, that +there was not heat enough to keep them in that state, till the +attraction of the parts of all of them had drawn them into one mass, +which might afterwards solidify into a single globe. The tendency of +nebular matter to separate into distinct portions, which may afterwards +be more and more detached from each other, so as to break the nebulous +light into patches and specks, appears to be seen in the structure of +the resolvable nebulæ, as we have already had occasion to notice. And +according to the view we are now taking, we may conceive such patches, +by further cooling and concentration, to remain luminous as comets, and +perhaps shooting stars; or to become opaque as planets, planetoids, +satellites, or meteoric stones. And here we may call to mind what we +have already said, that the meteoric stones consist of the same elements +as those of the earth, combined by the same laws; and thus appear to +bring us a message from the other solid planets, that they also have the +same elements and the same chemical forces as the earth has. + +8. It has already been supposed, by many astronomers, that shooting +stars, and meteoric stones, are bodies of connected nature and origin; +and that they are cosmical, not terrestrial bodies;--parts of the solar +system, not merely appendages to the earth. It has been conceived, that +the luminous masses, which appear as shooting stars, when they are +without the sphere of terrestrial influences, may, when they reach our +atmosphere, collapse into such solid lumps as have from time to time +fallen upon the earth's surface: many of them, with such sudden +manifestations of light and heat, as implied some rapid change taking +place in their chemical constitution and consistence. If shooting stars +are of this nature, then, in those cases in which a great number of them +appear in close succession, we have evidence that there is a region in +which there is a large collection of matter of a nebulous kind, +collected already into small clouds, and ready, by any additional touch +of the powers that hover round the earth, to be further consolidated +into planetary matter. That the earth's orbit carries her through such +regions, in her annual course, we have evidence, in the curious fact, +now so repeatedly observed, of showers of shooting stars, seen at +particular seasons of every year; especially about the 13th of November, +and the 10th of August. This phenomenon has been held, most reasonably, +to imply that at those periods of the year, the earth passes through a +crowd of such meteor-planets, which form a ring round the sun; and +revolving round him, like the other planets, retain their place in the +system from year to year.[7] It may be that the orbits of these +meteor-planets are very elliptical. That they are to a certain extent +elliptical, appears to be shown, by our falling in with them only once a +year, not every half year, as we should do, if their orbit, being nearly +circular, met the earth's orbit in two opposite points. That the +shooting stars, thus seen in great numbers when the earth is at certain +points of her orbit, are really planetoidal bodies, appears to be +further proved by this;--that they all seem to move nearly in the same +direction.[8] They are, each of them, visible for a short time only, +(indeed commonly only for a few seconds), while they are nearest the +earth; much in the same way in which a comet is visible only for a small +portion of its path: and this portion is described in a short time, +because they move near the earth. They are so small that a little change +of distance removes them beyond our vision. + +9. Perhaps these revolving specks of nebulæ are the outriders of the +zodiacal light; portions of it, which, being external to the permanently +nebulous central mass, have broken into patches, and are seen as stars +for the moment that we are near to them. And if this be true, we have to +correct, in a certain way, what we have previously said of the zodiacal +light;--that no one had thought of resolving it into stars: for it would +thus appear, that in its outer region, it resolves itself into stars, +visible, though but for a moment, to the naked eye. + +10. And thus, all these phenomena concur in making it appear probable, +that the Earth is placed in that region of the solar system in which the +planet-forming powers are most vigorous and potent;--between the region +of permanent nebulous vapor, and the region of mere shreds and specks of +planetary matter, such as are the satellites and the planetoidal group. +And from these views, finally it follows, that the Earth is really the +largest planetary body in the Solar System. The vast globes of Jupiter +and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which roll far above her, are still only +huge masses of cloud and vapor, water and air; which, from their +enormous size, are ponderous enough to retain round them a body of +small satellites, perhaps, in some degree at least, solid; and which +have perhaps a small lump, or a few similar lumps, of planetary matter +at the centre of their watery globe. The Earth is really the domestic +hearth of this Solar System; adjusted between the hot and fiery haze on +one side, the cold and watery vapor on the other. This region only is +fit to be a domestic hearth, a seat of habitation; and in this region is +placed the largest solid globe of our system; and on this globe, by a +series of creative operations, entirely different from any of those +which separated the solid from the vaporous, the cold from the hot, the +moist from the dry, have been established, in succession, plants, and +animals, and man. So that the habitation has been occupied; the domestic +hearth has been surrounded by its family; the fitnesses so wonderfully +combined have been employed; and the Earth alone, of all the parts of +the frame which revolves round the Sun, has become a World. + +11. Perhaps it may tend still further to illustrate, and to fix in the +reader's mind, the view of the constitution of the solar system here +given, if we remark an analogy which exists, in this respect, between +the Earth in particular, and the Solar System in general. The earth, +like the central parts of the system, is warmed by the sun; and hence, +drives off watery vapors into the circumambient space, where they are +condensed by the cold. The upper regions of the atmosphere, like the +outer regions of the solar system, form the vapors thus raised into +clouds, which are really only water in minute drops; while in the solar +system, the cold of the outer regions, and the rotation of the masses +themselves, maintain the water, and the vapor, in immense spheres. But +Jupiter and Saturn may be regarded as, in many respects, immense clouds; +the continuous water being collected at their centres, while the more +airy and looser parts circulate above. They are the permanent +receptacles of the superfluous water and air of the system. What is not +wanted on the Earth, is stored up there, and hangs above us, far removed +from our atmosphere; but yet, like the clouds in our atmosphere, an +example, what glorious objects accumulations of vapor and water, +illuminated by the rays of the sun, may become in our eyes. + +12. These views are so different from those hitherto generally +entertained, and considered as having a sort of religious dignity +belonging to them, that we may fear, at first at least, they will appear +to many, rash and fanciful, and almost, as we have said, irreverent. On +the question of reverence we may hereafter say a few words; but as to +the rashness of these views, we would beg the reader, calmly and +dispassionately, to consider the very extraordinary number of points in +the solar system, hitherto unexplained, which they account for, or, at +least reduce into consistency and connection, in a manner which seems +wonderful. The Theory, as we may perhaps venture to call it, brings +together all these known phenomena;--the great size and small density of +the exterior planets;--their belts and streaks;--Saturn's +ring;--Jupiter's oblateness;--the great number of satellites of the +exterior planets;--the numerous group of planetoid bodies between +Jupiter and Mars;--the appearance of definite shapes of land and water +on Mars;--the showers of shooting stars which appear at certain periods +of the year;--the Zodiacal Light;--the appearance of Venus as different +from Mars;--and finally, the material composition of meteoric stones. + +13. Perhaps there are other phenomena which more readily find an +explanation in this theory, than in any other: for instance, the recent +discovery of a dim half-transparent ring, as an appendage to the +luminous ring of Saturn, which has hitherto alone been observed. Perhaps +this is the ring of vapor which may naturally be expected to accompany +the ring of water. It is the annular atmosphere of the aqueous annulus. +But, the discovery of this faint ring being so new, and hitherto not +fully unfolded, we shall not further press the argument, which, +hereafter, perhaps, may be more confidently derived from its existence. + +14. There are some other facts in the Solar System, which, we can hardly +doubt, must have a bearing upon the views which we have urged; though we +cannot yet undertake to explain that bearing fully. Not only do all the +planetary bodies of the solar system, as well as the Sun himself, +revolve upon their axes; but there is a very curious fact relative to +these revolutions, which appears to point out a further connection among +them. So far as has yet been ascertained, all those which we, in our +theory, regard as solid bodies, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, +revolve in very nearly the same time: namely, in about twenty-four +hours. All those larger masses, on the other hand, which we, in our +theory, hold to be watery planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, revolve, not +in a longer time, as would perhaps have been expected, from their +greater size, but in a shorter time; in less than half the time; in +about ten hours. The near agreement of the times of revolution in each +of these two groups, is an extremely curious fact; and cannot fail to +lead our thoughts to the probability of some common original cause of +these motions. But no such common cause has been suggested, by any +speculator on these subjects. If, in this blank, even of hypotheses, one +might be admitted, as at least a mode of connecting the facts, we might +say, that the compound collection of solid materials, water, and air, of +which the solar system consists, and of which our earth alone, perhaps, +retains the combination, being, by whatever means, set a spinning round +an axis, at the rate of one revolution in 24 hours, the solid masses +which were detached from it, not being liable to much contraction, +retained their rate of revolution; while the vaporous masses which were +detached from the fluid and airy part, contracting much, when they came +into a colder region, increased their rate of revolution on account of +their contraction. That such an acceleration of the rate of revolution +would be the result of contraction, is known from mechanical principles; +and indeed, is evident: for the contraction of a circular ring of such +matter into a narrower compass, would not diminish the linear velocity +of its elements, while it would give them a smaller path to describe in +their revolutions. Such an hypothesis would account, therefore, both for +the nearly equal times of revolution of all the solid planets, and for +the smaller period of rotation, which the larger planets show. + +15. In what manner, however, portions are to be detached from such a +rotating mass, so as to form solid planets on the one side, and watery +planets on the other, and how these planets, so detached, are to be made +to revolve round the Sun, in orbits nearly circular, we have no +hypothesis ready to explain. And perhaps we may say, that no +satisfactory, or even plausible, hypothesis to explain these facts, has +been proposed: for the Nebular Hypothesis, the only one which is likely +to be considered as worthy any notice on this subject, is too +imperfectly worked out, as yet, to enable us to know, what it will or +will not account for. According to that hypothesis, the nebular matter +of a system, having originally a rotatory motion, gradually contracts; +and separating, at various distances from the centre, forms rings; which +again, breaking at some point of their circumference, are, by the mutual +attraction of their parts, gathered up into one mass; which, when +cooled down, so as to be opaque, becomes a planet; still revolving round +the luminous mass which remains at the centre. That such a process, if +we suppose the consistency, and other properties, of the nebulous matter +to be such as to render it possible, would produce planetary masses +revolving round a sun in nearly circular orbits, and rotating about +their own axes, seems most likely; though it does not appear that it has +been very clearly shown.[9] But no successful attempt has been made to +deduce any laws of the distances from the centre, times of rotation, or +other properties of such planets; and therefore, we cannot say that the +nebular hypothesis is yet in any degree confirmed. + +16. The Theory which we have ventured to propose, of the Solar System, +agrees with the Nebular Hypothesis, so far as that hypothesis goes; if +we suppose that there is, at the centre of the exterior planets, +Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, a solid nucleus, probably small, +of the same nature as the other planets. Such an addition to our theory +is, perhaps, on all accounts, probable: for that circumstance would seem +to determine, to particular points, the accumulation of water and +vapors, to which we hold that those planets owe the greater part of +their bulk. Those planets then, Jupiter, Saturn, and the others, are +really small solid planets, with enormous oceans and atmospheres. The +Nebular Hypothesis, in that case, is that part of our Hypothesis, which +relates to the condensation of luminous nebular matter; while _we_ +consider, further, the causes which, scorching the inner planets, and +driving the vapors to the outer orbs, would make the region of the earth +the only habitable part of the system. + +17. The belief that other planets, as well as our own, are the seats of +habitation of living things, has been entertained, in general, not in +consequence of physical reasons, but in spite of physical reasons; and +because there were conceived to be other reasons, of another kind, +theological or philosophical, for such a belief. It was held that Venus, +or that Saturn, was inhabited, not because any one could devise, with +any degree of probability, any organized structure which would be +suitable to animal existence on the surfaces of those planets; but +because it was conceived that the greatness or goodness of the Creator, +or His wisdom, or some other of His attributes, would be manifestly +imperfect, if these planets were not tenanted by living creatures. The +evidences of design, of which we can trace so many, and such striking +examples, in our own sphere, the sphere of life, must, it was assumed, +exist, in the like form, in every other part of the universe. The +disposition to regard the Universe in this point of view, is very +general; the disinclination to accept any change in our belief which +seems, for a time, to interfere with this view, is very strong; and the +attempt to establish the necessity of new views discrepant from these +has, in many eyes, an appearance as if it were unfriendly to the best +established doctrines of Natural Theology. All these apprehensions will, +we trust, be shown, in the sequel, to be utterly unfounded: and in order +that any such repugnance to the doctrines here urged, may not linger in +the reader's mind, we shall next proceed to contemplate the phenomena of +the universe in their bearing upon such speculations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Other speculators also have regarded Saturn's Ring as a ring of +cloud or water. See _Cosmos_, III. 527 and 553. + +[2] Humboldt has already remarked _(Cosmos_, I. 95, and III. 427), that +the inner planets as far as Mars, and the outer ones beginning with +Jupiter, form two groups having different properties. Also Encke. (See +Humboldt's Note.) + +[3] Printed Oct. 19, 1853. + +[4] Herschel, 540. + +[5] It is probable, from the small density of Jupiter's satellites, that +they also consist in a great measure of water and vapor. Only one of +them is denser than Jupiter himself.--_Cosmos_. + +[6] It has, in our own day, even in the present year, been regarded as a +great achievement of man to direct the fiery influences which he can +command, so as to cast a colossal statue in a single piece, instead of +casting it in several portions. + +[7] Herschel, 900-905. + +[8] Herschel, 901. + +[9] Besides the curious relation of the times of rotation of the +planets, just noticed, there is another curious relation, of their +distance from the Sun, which any one, wishing to frame an hypothesis on +the origin of our Solar System, ought by all means to try to account +for. + +The distances from the Sun, of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +the Planetoids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, are nearly as the numbers, + + 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, 52, 100, 196: + +now the excesses of each of these numbers above the first are, + + 3, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96: + +a series in which each term (after the first,) is double of the +preceding one. Hence, the distances of the planets conform to a series +following this law, (_Bode's law_, as it is termed.) And though the law +is by no means exact, yet it was so far considered a probable expression +of a general fact, that the deviation from this law, in the interval +between Mars and Jupiter, was the principal cause which led first to the +suspicion of a planet interposed in the seemingly vacant space; and thus +led to the discovery of the planetoids, which really occupy that region. +It is true, that the law is found not to hold, in the case of the +newly-discovered planet Neptune; for his distance from the Sun, which +according to this law, should be 388, is really only 300, 30 times the +Earth's distance, instead of 39 times. Still, Bode's law has a +comprehensive approximate reality in the Solar System, sufficient to +make it a strong recommendation of any hypothesis of the origin of the +system, that it shall account for this law. This, however, the nebular +hypothesis does not. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN. + + +1. There is no more worthy or suitable employment of the human mind, +than to trace the evidences of Design and Purpose in the Creator, which +are visible in many parts of the Creation. The conviction thus obtained, +that man was formed by the wisdom, and is governed by the providence, of +an intelligent and benevolent Being, is the basis of Natural Religion, +and thus, of all Religion. We trust that some new lights will be thrown +upon the traces of Design which the Universe offers, even in the work +now before the reader; and as our views, regarding the plan of such +Design, are different, in some respects, and especially as relates to +the Planets and Stars, from those which have of late been generally +entertained, it will be proper to make some general remarks, mainly +tending to show, that the argument remains undisturbed, though the +physical theory is changed. + +2. It cannot surprise any one who has attended to the history of +science, to find that the views, even of the most philosophical minds, +with regard to the plan of the universe, alter, as man advances from +falsehood to truth: or rather, from very imperfect truth to truth less +imperfect. But yet such a one will not be disposed to look, with any +other feeling than profound respect, upon the reasonings by which the +wisest men of former times ascended from their erroneous views of nature +to the truth of Natural Religion. It cannot seem strange to us that man +at any point, and perhaps at every point, of his intellectual progress, +should have an imperfect insight into the plan of the Universe; but, in +the most imperfect condition of such knowledge, he has light enough from +it, to see vestiges of the Wisdom and Benevolence of the Creating Deity; +and at the highest point of his scientific progress, he can probably +discover little more, by the light which physical science supplies. We +can hardly hope, therefore, that any new truths with regard to the +material universe, which may now be attainable, will add very much to +the evidence of creative design; but we may be confident, also, that +they will not, when rightly understood, shake or weaken such evidence. +It has indeed happened, in the history of mankind, that new views of the +constitution of the universe, brought to the light by scientific +researches, and established beyond doubt, in the conviction of impartial +persons, have disturbed the thoughts of religious men; because they did +not fall in with the view then entertained, of the mode in which God +effects his purpose in the universe. But in these cases, it soon came to +be seen, after a season of controversy, reproach, and alarm, that the +old argument for design was capable of being translated into the +language of the new theory, with no loss of force; and the minds of men +were gradually tranquillized and pacified. It may be hoped that the +world is now so much wiser than it was two or three centuries ago, that +if any modification of the current arguments for the Divine Attributes, +drawn from the aspect of the universe, become necessary, in consequence +of the rectification of received errors, it will take place without +producing pain, fear, or anger. To promote this purpose, we proceed to +make a few remarks. + +3. The proof of Design, as shown in the works of Creation, is seen most +clearly, not in mere physical arrangement, but in the structure of +organized things;--in the constitution of plants and animals. In those +parts of nature, the evidences of intelligent purpose, of wise +adaptation, of skilful selection of means to ends, of provident +contrivance, are, in many instances, of the most striking kind. Such, +for example, are the structure of the human eye, so curiously adapted +for its office of seeing; the muscles, cords, and pullies by which the +limbs of animals are moved, exceeding far the mechanical ingenuity shown +in human inventions; the provisions which exist, before the birth of +offspring, for its sustenance and well-being when it shall have been +born;--these are lucid and convincing proofs of an intelligent Creator, +to which no ordinary mind can refuse its conviction. Nor is the +evidence, which we here recognize, deprived of its force, when we see +that many parts of the structure of animals, though adapted for +particular purposes, are yet framed as a portion of a system which does +not seem, in its general form, to have any bearing on such purposes.[1] +The beautiful contrivances which exist in the skeleton of man, and the +contrivances, possessing the same kind of beauty, in the skeleton of a +sparrow, do not appear to any reasonable person less beautiful, because +the skeleton of a man, and of a sparrow, have an agreement, bone for +bone, for which we see no reason, and which appears to us to answer no +purpose. The way in which the human hand and arm are made capable of +their infinite variety of use, by the play of the radius and ulna, the +bones of the wrist and the fingers, is not the less admirable, because +we can trace the representatives and rudiments of each of these bones, +in cases where they answer no such ends;--in the foreleg of the pig, the +ox, the horse, or the seal. The provision for feeding the young +creature, which is made, with such bounteous liberality, and such +opportune punctuality, by the breasts of the mother, has not any doubt +thrown upon its reality, by the teats of male animals and the paps of +man, which answer no such purpose. That in these cases there is +manifested a wider plan, which does not show any reference to the needs +of particular cases; as well as peculiar contrivances for the particular +cases, does not disturb our impression of design in each case. Why +should so large a portion of the animal kingdom, intended, as it seems, +for such different fields of life and modes of living;--beasts, birds, +fishes;--still have a skeleton of the same plan, and even of the same +parts, bone for bone; though many of the parts, in special cases, appear +to be altogether useless (namely, the vertebrate plan)? We cannot tell. +Our naturalists and comparative anatomists, it would seem, cannot point +out any definite end, which is answered by making so many classes of +animals on this one vertebrate plan. And since they cannot do this, and +since we cannot tell why animals are so made, we must be content to say +that we do not know; and therefore, to leave this feature in the +structure of animals out of our argument for design. Hence we do not say +that the making of beasts, birds, and fishes, on the same vertebrate +plan, proves design in the Creator, in any way in which we can +understand design. That plan is not of itself a proof of design; it is +something in addition to the proofs of design; a general law of the +animal creation, established, it may be, for some other reason. But +this common plan being given, we can discern and admire, in every kind +of animal, the manner in which the common plan is adapted to the +particular purpose which the animal's kind of life involves.[2] The +general law is not all; there is also, in every instance, a special care +for the species. The general law may seem, in many cases, to remove +further from us the proof of providential care; by showing that the +elements of the benevolent contrivance are not provided in the cases +alone where they are needed, but in others also. But yet this seeming, +this obscuration of the evidence of design, by interposing the form of +general law, cannot last long. If the general law supplies the elements, +still a special adaptation is needed to make the elements answer such a +purpose; and what is this adaptation, but design? The radius and ulna, +the carpal and metacarpal bones, are all in the general type of the +vertebrate skeleton. But does this fact make it the less wonderful, that +man's arm and hand and fingers should be constructed so that he can make +and use the spade, the plow, the loom, the pen, the pencil, the chisel, +the lute, the telescope, the microscope, and all other instruments? Is +it not, rather, very wonderful that the bones which are to be found +rudimentally, in the leg-bone of a horse, or the hoof of an ox, should +be capable of such a curious and fertile development and modification? +And is not such development and modification a work, and a proof, of +design and intention in the Creator? And so in other cases. The teats of +male animals, the nipples of man, may arise from this, that the general +plan of the animal frame includes paps, as portions of it; and that the +frame is so far moulded in the embryo, before the sex of the offspring +is determined. Be it so. Yet still this provision of paps in the animal +form in general, has reference to offspring; and the development of +that part of the frame, when the sex is determined, is evidence of +design, as clear as it is possible to conceive in the works of nature. +The general law is moulded to the special purpose, at the proper stage; +and this play of general laws, and special contrivances, into each +other's provinces, though it may make the phenomena a little more +complex, and modify our notion as to the mode of the Creator's working, +will not, in philosophical minds, disturb the conviction that there is +design in the special adaptations: besides which, some other feature of +the operation of the Creative Mind may be suggested by the prevalence of +general laws in the Creation. + +4. There is, however, one caution suggested by this view. Since, +besides, and mixed with the examples of Design which the creation +offers, there are also results of General Laws, in which we cannot trace +the purpose and object of the law; we may fall into error, if we fasten +upon something which is a result of such mere general laws, and imagine +that we can discern its object and purpose. Thus, for instance, we might +possibly persuade ourselves that we had discovered the use and purpose +of the teats of male animals; or of the trace of separation into parts +which the leg-bone of a horse offers; or of the false toes of a pig: all +which are, as we have seen, the rudiments of a plan more general than is +developed in the particular case. And if, when we had made such a +fancied discovery, it were found that the uses and purposes which we had +imagined to belong to these parts or features, were not really served by +them; at first, perhaps, we might be somewhat disturbed, as having lost +one of the evidences of the design of the Creator, all which are, +precious to a reverent mind. But it is not likely that any disturbance +of a reverent mind on such grounds as this, would continue long, or go +far. We should soon come to recollect, how light and precarious, +perhaps how arbitrary and ill-supported by our real knowledge, were the +grounds on which we had assigned such uses to such parts. We should turn +back from them to the more solid and certain evidences, not shaken, nor +likely to be shaken, by any change in prevalent zoological or anatomical +doctrines, which those who love to contemplate such subjects habitually +dwell upon; and, holding ourselves ready to entertain any speculations +by which the bearing of those general Laws upon Natural Religion could +be shown, in such a way as to convince our reason, we should rest in the +confident and tranquil persuasion that no success or failure in such +speculations could vitally affect our belief in a wise and benevolent +Deity:--that though additional illustrations of his attributes might be +interesting and welcome, no change of our scientific point of view could +make his being or action doubtful. + +5. This is, it would seem, the manner in which a reasonable and reverent +man would regard the proof of a Supreme Creator and Governor, which is +derived from Design, as seen in the organic creation; and the mode in +which such proof would be affected by changes in the knowledge which we +may acquire of the general laws by which the organic creation is +constituted and governed. And hence, if it should be found to be +established by the researches of the most comprehensive and exact +philosophy, that there are, in any province of the universe, +resemblances, gradations, general laws, indications of the mode in which +one form approaches to another, and seems to pass into and generate +another, which tend to obliterate distinctions which at first appeared +broad and conspicuous; still the argument, from the design which appears +in the parts of which we most clearly see the purpose, would not lose +its force. If, for instance, it should be made apparent, by geological +investigations of the extinct fossil creation, that the animal forms +which have inhabited the earth, have gradually approached to that type +in which the human form is included, passing from the rudest and most +imperfect animal organizations, mollusks, or even organic monads, to +vertebrate animals, to warm-blooded animals, to monkeys, and to men; +still, the evidences of design in the anatomy of man are not less +striking than they were, when no such gradation was thought of. And what +is more to the purpose of our argument, the evidences of the peculiar +nature and destination of man, as shown in other characters than his +anatomy,--his moral and intellectual nature, his history and +capacities,--stand where they stood before; nor is the vast chasm which +separates man, as a being with such characters as these latter, from all +other animals, at all filled up or bridged over. + +6. The evidence of design in the inorganic world,--in the relation of +earth, air, water, heat and light,--is, to most persons, less striking +and impressive, than it is in the organic creation. But even among these +mere physical elements of the world, when we consider them with +reference to living things, we find many arrangements which, on a +reflective view, excite our admiration, by the beneficial effect, and +seemingly beneficent purpose. Our condition is furnished with the solid +earth, on which we stand, and in which we find the materials of man's +handiworks; stone and metal, clay and sand;--with the atmosphere which +we breathe, and which is the vehicle of oral intercourse between man and +man;--with revolutions of the sun, by which are brought round the +successions of day and night, through all their varying lengths, and of +summer and winter;--with the clouds above us, which pour upon the earth +their fertilizing showers. All this furniture of the earth, so +marvellously adapting it for the abode of living creatures, and +especially of man, may well be regarded as a collection of provisions +for his benefit:--as _intended_ to do him the good, which they do. Nor +would this impression be removed, or even weakened, if we were to +discover that some of these arrangements, instead of being produced by a +machinery confined to that single purpose, were only partial results of +a more general plan. For instance; we learn that the varying lengths of +days and nights through the year, and the varying declination of the +sun, are produced, not, as was at first supposed, by the sun moving +round the earth, in a complex diurnal and annual path, but by the earth +revolving in an annual orbit round the sun; while at the same time she +has a diurnal rotation about her own axis, which axis, by the laws of +mechanics, remains always parallel to itself. When we learn that this is +so, we see that the effect is produced by a mechanical arrangement far +more simple than any which the imagination of man had devised; but in +this case, the effect is plainly rather an increased admiration at the +simplicity of the mechanism, than a wavering belief in the reality of +the purpose. In like manner when, instead of supposing water to exist in +a continuous reservoir in a firmament above the earth, and to fall in +the earlier and in the latter rain, by some special agency for that +purpose; men learnt to see that the water in the upper regions of the +air must exist in clouds and in vapors only, and must fall in showers by +the condensing influence of cold currents of air; they needed not to +cease to admire the kindness of the Creator, in providing the rain to +water the earth, and the wind to dry it; although the mechanism by which +the effect was produced was of a larger kind than they had before +imagined. And even if this mechanism extend through the solar system: if +the arrangement by which the Earth's atmosphere is the special region in +which there are winds hot and cold, clouds compact or dissolving,--be +an arrangement which extends its influence to other planets, as well as +to ours;--if this mixed atmosphere be placed, not only at the meeting +point of clear aqueous vapor above, and warmer airs below, but also at +the meeting point of a hot central region surrounding the Sun, and a +cold exterior zone in which water and vapor can exist in immense +collected masses, such as are Jupiter and Saturn;--still it would not +appear, to a reasonable view, that this larger expansion of the +machinery by which the effect is produced, makes the machinery less +remarkable; or can at all tend to diminish the belief that it was +_intended_ to produce the effect which it does produce. Hot and cold, +moist and dry, are constantly mixed together for the support of +vegetable and animal life; and not the less so, if we believe that, +though elements of this kind pervade the whole solar system, it is only +at the Earth that they are combined so as to foster and nourish living +things. + +7. But it will perhaps be said, that to suppose the whole Solar System +to be a machine merely operating for the benefit of the Earth and its +population, is to give to the Earth and its population an importance in +the scheme of creation which is quite extravagant and improbable:--it is +to make the greater orbs, Jupiter and Saturn, minister to the less; +instead of having their own purpose, and their own population, which +their size naturally leads us to expect. To this we reply, that, in the +first place, we have shown good reason for believing that the Earth is +really the largest dense solid globe which exists in the solar system, +and that the size of Jupiter and Saturn arises from their being composed +mainly of water and vapor. And with regard to the difficulty of the +greater ministering to the less;--if by _greater_, mere size and extent +be understood, it appears to be the universal law of creation, that the +greater, in that sense, _should_ minister to the less, when the less +includes living things. Even if the planets be all inhabited, the sun, +which is greater far than all of them together, ministers light and heat +to all of them. Even on this supposition, the vast spaces by which the +planets are separated have no use, that we can discern, except to place +them at suitable distances from the sun. Even on this supposition, their +solid globes within, their atmospheres without are all merely +subservient to the benefit of a thin and scattered population on the +surface. The space occupied by men and animals on the earth's surface, +even taking into account the highest buildings and the deepest seas, is +only a few hundreds, or a thousand feet. The benefit of this minute +shell, interrupted in many places for vast distances, everywhere loosely +and sparsely filled, is ministered to by the solidity and attraction of +a mass below it 20 millions of feet deep; by the influence of an +atmosphere above it 200 thousand feet high at least, and it may be, much +more. And this being so, if we increase the depth of the centre 20 +thousand times; if we carry the extreme verge of air and vapor to thirty +times the radius of the earth's orbit from us, how does the construction +of the machine become more improbable, or the disproportion of its size +to its purpose more incongruous? Is mere size,--extent of brute matter +or blank space,--so majestic a thing? Is not infinite space large enough +to admit of machines of any size without grudging? But if we thus move +the centre of the Earth's peopled surface 20 thousand times further off, +we reach the Sun. If we carry the limit of air and vapor to the distance +of 30 times the radius of the Earth's orbit we arrive at Neptune. Are +these new numbers monstrous, while the old ones were accepted without +scruple? Is number such an alarming feature in the description of the +Universe? Does not the description of every part and every aspect of it, +present us with numbers so large, that wonder and repugnance, on that +ground are long ago exhausted? Surely this is so: and if the evidence +really tend to prove to us that all the solar system ministers to the +earth's population; the mere size of the system, compared with the space +occupied by the population, will not long stand in the way of the +reception of such a doctrine. + +8. But the objection will perhaps be urged in another form. It will be +said that the other Planets have so many points of resemblance with the +Earth, that we must suppose their nature and purpose the same. They, +like the Earth, revolve in circles round the sun, rotate on their own +axes, have, several of them, satellites, are opaque bodies, deriving +light and probably heat from the sun. To an external spectator of the +Solar System, they would not be distinguishable from the Earth. Such a +spectator would never be tempted to guess that the Earth alone, of all +these, neither the greatest nor the least, neither the one with the most +satellites, nor the fewest, neither the innermost nor the outermost of +the planets, is the only one inhabited; or at any rate the only one +inhabited by an intelligent population. And to this we reply; that the +largest of the other planets, if we judge rightly, are _not_ like the +Earth in one most essential respect, their density; and none of them, in +having a surface consisting of land and water; except perhaps Mars: that +if the supposed external spectator could see that this was so, he might +see that the earth was different from the rest; and he might be able to +see the vaporous nature of the outer planets, so that he would no more +think of peopling them, than we do, of peopling the grand Alpine ridges +and vallies which we see in the clouds of a summer-sky. + +9. But even if the supposed spectator attended only to the obvious and +superficial resemblances between one of the planets and another, he +might still, if he were acquainted with the general economy of the +Universe, have great hesitation in inferring that, if one of them were +inhabited, the others also must be inhabited. For, as we have said, in +the plan of creation, we have a profusion of examples, where similar +visible structures do not answer a similar purpose; where, so far as we +can see, the structure answers no purpose in many cases; but exists, as +we may say, for the sake of similarity: the similarity being a general +Law, the result, it would seem, of a creative energy, which is wider in +its operation than the particular purpose. Such examples are, as we have +said, the finger-bones which are packed into the hoofs of a horse, or +the paps and nipples of a male animal. Now the spectator, recollecting +such cases might say: I know that the earth is inhabited; no doubt Mars +and Jupiter are a good deal like the Earth; but are they inhabited? They +look like the terrestrial breast of Nature: but are they really nursing +breasts? Do they, like that, give food to living offspring? Or are they +mere images of such breasts? male teats, dry of all nutritive power? +sports, or rather overworks of nature; marks of a wider law than the +needs of Mother Earth require? many sketches of a design, of which only +one was to be executed? many specimens of the preparatory process of +making a Planet, of which only one was to be carried out into the making +of a World? Such questions might naturally occur to a person acquainted +with the course of creation in general; even before he remarked the +features which tend to show that Jupiter and Saturn, that Venus and +Mercury, have not been developed into peopled worlds, like our Earth. + +10. Perhaps it may be said, that to hold this, is to make Nature work in +vain; to waste her powers; to suppose her to produce the frame work, and +not to build; to make the skeleton, and not to clothe it with living +flesh; to delude us with appearances of analogy and promises of +fertility, which are fallacious. What can we reply to this? + +11. We reply, that to work in vain, in the sense of producing means of +life which are not used, embryos which are never vivified, germs which +are not developed; is so far from being contrary to the usual +proceedings of nature, that it is an operation which is constantly going +on, in every part of nature. Of the vegetable seeds which are produced, +what an infinitely small proportion ever grow into plants! Of animal +ova, how exceedingly few become animals, in proportion to those that do +not; and that are wasted, if this be waste! It is an old calculation, +which used to be repeated as a wonderful thing, that a single female +fish contains in its body 200 millions of ova, and thus, might, of +itself alone, replenish the seas, if all these were fostered into life. +But in truth, this, though it may excite wonder, cannot excite wonder as +anything uncommon. It is only one example of what occurs everywhere. +Every tree, every plant, produces innumerable flowers, the flowers +innumerable seeds, which drop to the earth, or are carried abroad by the +winds, and perish, without having their powers unfolded. When we see a +field of thistles shed its downy seeds upon the wind, so that they roll +away like a cloud, what a vast host of possible thistles are there! Yet +very probably none of them become actual thistles. Few are able to take +hold of the ground at all; and those that do, die for lack of congenial +nutriment, or are crushed by external causes before they are grown. The +like is the case with every tribe of plants.[3] The like with every +tribe of animals. The possible fertility of some kinds of insects is as +portentous as anything of this kind can be. If allowed to proceed +unchecked, if the possible life were not perpetually extinguished, the +multiplying energies perpetually frustrated, they would gain dominion +over the largest animals, and occupy the earth. And the same is the +case, in different degrees, in the larger animals. The female is stocked +with innumerable ovules, capable of becoming living things: of which +incomparably the greatest number end as they began, mere ovules;--marks +of mere possibility, of vitality frustrated. The universe is so full of +such rudiments of things, that they far outnumber the things which +outgrow their rudiments. The marks of possibility are much more numerous +than the tale of actuality. The vitality which is frustrated is far more +copious than the vitality which is consummated. So far, then, as this +analogy goes, if the earth alone, of all the planetary harvest, has been +a fertile seed of creation;--if the terrestrial embryo have alone been +evolved into life, while all the other masses have remained barren and +dead:--we have, in this, nothing which we need regard as an +unprecedented waste, an improbable prodigality, an unusual failure in +the operations of nature: but on the contrary, such a single case of +success among many of failure, is exactly the order of nature in the +production of life. It is quite agreeable to analogy, that the Solar +System, of which the _flowers_ are not many, should have borne but one +_fertile_ flower. One in eight, or in twice eight, reared into such +wondrous fertility as belongs to the Earth, is an abundant produce, +compared with the result in the most fertile provinces of Nature. And +even if any number of the Fixed Stars were also found to be barren +flowers of the sky; objects, however beautiful, yet not sources of life +or development, we need not think the powers of creation wasted or +frustrated, thrown away or perverted. One such fertile result as the +Earth, with all its hosts of plants and animals, and especially with +Man, an intelligent being, to stand at the head of those hosts, is a +worthy and sufficient produce, so far as we can judge of the Creator's +ways by analogy, of all the Universal Scheme. + +12. But when we follow this analogy, so far as to speak of the mere +material mass of a planet as an _embryo world_;--a barren flower;--a +seed which has never been developed into a plant;--we are in danger of +allowing the analogy to mislead us. For a planet, as to its brute mass, +has really nothing in common with a seed or an embryo. It has no +organization, or tendency to organization; no principle of life, however +obscure. So far as we can judge, no progress of time, or operation of +mere natural influence, would clothe a brute mass with vegetables, or +stock it with animals. No species of living thing would have its place +upon the surface; by the mere order of unintelligent nature. So much is +this so, according to all that our best knowledge teaches, that those +geologists who must most have desired, for the sake of giving +completeness and consistency to their systems, to make the production of +vegetable and animal species from brute matter, a part of the order of +nature, (inasmuch as they have explained everything else by the order of +nature,) have not ventured to do so. They allow, generally at least, +each separate species to require a special act of creative power, to +bring it into being. They make the peopling of the earth, with its +successive races of inhabitants, a series of events altogether different +from the operation of physical laws in the sustentation of existing +species. The creation of life is, they allow, something out of the +range of the ordinary laws of nature. And therefore, when we speak of +uninhabited planets, as cases in which vital tendencies have been +defeated; in which their apparent destiny, as worlds of life, has been +frustrated; we really do injustice to our argument. The planets had no +vital tendencies: they could have had such given, only by an additional +act, or a series of additional acts, of Creative power. As mere inert +globes, they had no settled destiny to be seats of life: they could have +such a destiny, only by the appointment of Him who creates living +things, and puts them in the places which he chooses for them. If, when +a planetary mass had come into being, (in virtue of the same general +physical law, suppose, which produced the earth,) the Creator placed a +host of living things upon the earth, and none upon the other planet; +there was still no violation of analogy, no seeming change of purpose, +no unfinished plan. In the solar system, we can see what seem to be good +reasons why he did this; but if we could not see such reasons, still we +should be yet further from being able to see reasons why he necessarily +must place inhabitants upon the other planet. + +13. It is sometimes said, that it is agreeable to the goodness of God, +that all parts of the creation should swarm with life; that life is +enjoyment; and that the benevolence of the Supreme Being is shown in the +diffusion of such enjoyment into every quarter of the universe. To leave +a planet without inhabitants, would, it is thought, be to throw away an +opportunity of producing happiness. Now we shall not here dwell upon the +consideration, that the enjoyment thus spoken of, is, in a great degree, +the enjoyment which the mere life of the lower tribes of animals +implies;--the enjoyment of madrepores and oysters, cuttle-fish and +sharks, tortoises and serpents; but we reply more broadly, that it is +not the rule followed by the Creator, to fill all places with living +things. To say nothing of the vast intervals between planet and planet, +which, it is presumed, no one supposes to be occupied by living things; +how large a portion of the surface of the earth is uninhabited, or +inhabited only in the scantiest manner. Vast desert tracts exist in +Africa and in Asia, where the barren sand nourishes neither animal nor +vegetable life. The highest regions of mountain-ranges, clothed with +perpetual snow, and with far-reaching sheets of glacier ice, are +untenanted, except by the chamois at their outskirts. There are many +uninhabited islands; and were formerly many more. The ocean, covering +nearly three-fourths of the globe, is no seat of habitation for land +animals or for man; and though it has a large population of the fishy +tribes, is probably peopled in smaller numbers than if it were land, as +well as by inferior orders. We see, in the Earth then, which is the only +seat of life of which we really know anything, nothing to support the +belief that every field in the material universe is tenanted by living +inhabitants. + +14. That vegetables and animals, being once placed upon the earth, have +multiplied or are multiplying, so as to occupy every part of the land +and water which is suited for their habitation, we can see much reason +to believe. Philosophical natural-historians have been generally led to +the conviction that each species has had an original centre of +dispersion, where it was first native, and that from this centre it has +been diffused in all directions, as far as the circumstances of climate +and soil were favorable to its production. But we can see also much +reason to believe that this general diffusion of vegetable and animal +life from centres, is a part of the order of nature which may often be +made to give way to other and higher purposes;--to the diffusion, over +the whole surface of the earth, of a race of intelligent, moral agents. +This process may often interfere with the general law of diffusion: as +for instance, when man exterminates noxious animals. And whatever may be +the laws which tend to replenish the earth, on which such centres of the +diffusion of life exist for animals and plants; according to all +analogy, these laws can have no force on any other planet, till such +origins and centres of life are established on their surfaces. And even +if any of the species which have ever tenanted the earth were so +established on any other planet, we have the strongest reason to believe +that they could not survive to a second generation. + +15. Perhaps it may be said that we unjustifiably limit the power and +skill of the Supreme Creator, if we deny that he could frame creatures +fitted to live on any of the other planets, as well as in the +Earth:--that the wonderful variety, and unexpected resource, of the ways +in which animals are adapted for all kinds of climates, habitations, and +conditions, upon the earth, may give us confidence that, under +conditions still more extended, in habitations still further removed, in +climates going beyond the terrestrial extremes, still the same wisdom +and skill may well be supposed to have devised possible modes of animal +life. + +16. To this we reply, that we are so far from saying that the Creator +could not place inhabitants in the other planets, that we have attempted +to show what kind of inhabitants would be most likely to be placed +there, by considering the way in which animals are accommodated to +special conditions in their habitation. In judging of such modes of +accommodating animals to an abode on other planets, as well as the +earth, we have reasoned from what we know, of the mode in which animals +are accommodated to their different habitations on the earth. We believe +this to be the only safe and philosophical way of treating the question. +If we are to reason at all about the possibility of animal life, we +must suppose that heat and light, gravity and buoyancy, materials and +affinities, air and moisture, produce the same effect, require the same +adaptations, in Jupiter or in Venus, as they do on the Earth. If we do +not suppose this, we run into the error which so long prevented many +from accepting the Newtonian system:--the error of thinking that matter +in the heavens is governed by quite different laws from matter on the +earth. We must adopt that belief, if we hold that animals may live under +relations of heat and moisture, materials and affinities, in Jupiter or +Venus, under which they could not live on our planet. And that belief, +as we have said, appears to us contrary to all the teaching which the +history of science offers us. + +17. And not only is it contrary to the teaching of the history of +science, to suppose the laws, which connect elemental and organic +nature, to be different in the other planets from what they are on ours; +but moreover the supposition would not at all answer the purpose, of +making it probable that the planets are inhabited. For if we begin to +imagine new and unknown laws of nature for those abodes, what is there +to limit or determine our assumptions in any degree? What extravagant +mixtures of the attributes and properties of mind and matter may we not +then accept as probable truths? We know how difficult the poets have +found it to describe, with any degree of consistency, the actions and +events of a world of angels, or of evil spirits, souls or shades, +embodied in forms so as to admit of description, and yet not subject to +the laws of human bodies. Virgil, Tasso, Milton, Klopstock, and many +others, have struggled with this difficulty:--no one of them, it will be +probably agreed, with any great success; at least, regarding his +representation as a hypothesis of a possible form of life, different +from all the forms which we know. Yet if we are to reject the laws +which govern the known forms of life, in order that we may be able to +maintain the possibility of some unknown form in a different planet, we +must accept some of these hypotheses, or find a better. We must suppose +that weight and cohesion, wounds and mutilations, wings and plumage, +would have, either the effect which the poets represent them as having, +or some different effect: and in either case it will be impossible to +give any sufficient reason why we should confine the population to the +surface of a planet. If gravity have not, upon any set of beings, the +effect which it has upon us, such beings may live upon the surface of +Saturn, though it be mere vapor: but then, on that supposition, they may +equally well live in the vast space between Saturn and Jupiter, without +needing any planet for their mansion. If we are ready to suppose that +there are, in the solar system, conscious beings, not subject to the +ordinary laws of life, we may go on to imagine creatures constituted of +vaporous elements, floating in the fiery haze of a nebula, or close to +the body of a sun; and cloudy forms which soar as vapors in the region +of vapor. But such imaginations, besides being rather fitted for the +employment of poets than of philosophers, will not, as we have said, +find a population for the planets; since such forms may just as easily +be conceived swimming round the sun in empty space, or darting from star +to star, as confining themselves to the neighborhood of any of the solid +globes which revolve about the central sun. + +18. We should not, then add anything to the probability of inhabitants +on the other planets of our system, even if we were arbitrarily to +assume unlimited changes in the laws of nature, when we pass from our +region to theirs. But probably, all readers will be of opinion that such +assumptions are contrary to the whole scheme and spirit of such +speculations as we are here presuming:--that if we speculate on such +subjects at all, it must be done by supposing that the same laws of +nature operate in the same manner, in planetary, as in terrestrial +spaces;--and that as we suppose, and prove, gravity and attraction, +inertia and momentum, to follow the same rules, and produce the same +effects, on brute matter there, which they do here; so, both these +forces, and others, as light and heat, moisture and air, if, in the +planets, they go beyond the extremes which limit them here, yet must +imply, in any organized beings which exist in the planets, changes, +though greater in amount, of the same kind as those which occur in +approaching the terrestrial extremes of those elementary agents. And +what kind of a population that would lead us to suppose in Jupiter or +Saturn, Mars or Venus, the reader has already seen our attempt to +determine; and may thence judge whether, when we go so far beyond the +terrestrial extremes of heat and cold, light and dimness, vapor and +water, air and airlessness, any population at all is probable. + +19. Perhaps some persons, even if they cannot resist the force of these +reasons, may still yield to them with regret; and may feel as if, having +hitherto believed that the planets were inhabited, and having now to +give up that belief, their view of the solar system, as one of the +provinces of God's creation, were made narrower and poorer than it was +before. And this feeling may be still further increased, if they are led +to believe also that many of the fixed stars are not the centres of +inhabited systems; or that very few, or none are. It may seem to them, +as if, by such a change of belief, the field of God's greatness, +benevolence, and government, were narrowed and impoverished, to an +extent painful and shocking;--as if, instead of being the Maker and +Governor of innumerable worlds, of the most varied constitution, we were +called upon to regard him as merely the Master of the single world in +which we live:--as if, instead of being the object of reverence and +adoration to the intelligent population of these thousand spheres, he +was recognized and worshipped on one only, and on that, how scantily and +imperfectly! + +20. It is not to be denied that there may be such a regret and +disturbance naturally felt at having to give up our belief that the +planets and the stars probably contain servants and worshippers of God. +It must always be a matter of pain and trouble, to be urged with +tenderness, and to be performed in time, to untwine our reverential +religious sentiments from erroneous views of the constitution of the +universe with which they have been involved. But the change once made, +it is found that religion is uninjured, and reverence undiminished. And +therefore we trust that the reader will receive with candor and patience +the argument which we have to offer with reference to this view, or +rather, this sentiment. + +21. We remark, in the first place, that however repugnant it may be to +us to believe a state of any part of the universe in which there are not +creatures who can know, obey and worship God; we are compelled, by +geological evidence, to admit that such a state of things has existed +upon the earth, during a far longer period than the whole duration of +man's race. If we suppose that the human race, if not by their actual +knowledge, obedience, and worship of God, yet at least by their +faculties for knowing, obeying, and worshipping, are a sufficient reason +why there should be such a province in God's empire; still in fact, this +race has existed only for a few thousand years, out of the, perhaps, +millions of years of the earth's existence; and during all the previous +period, the earth, if tenanted, was tenanted by brute creatures, fishes +and lizards, beasts and birds, of which none had any faculty, +intellectual, moral, or religious. By the same analogy, therefore, on +which we have already insisted, we may argue that there is reason to +believe, that if other planets, and other stars, are the seats of +habitation, it is rather of such habitation as has prevailed upon the +earth during the millions, than during the six thousand years; and that +if we have, in consequence of physical reasons, to give up the belief of +a population in the other planets, or in the stars; we are giving up, +not anything with which we might dwell with religious pleasure--hosts of +fellow-servants and fellow-worshippers of the Divine Author of all:--but +the mere brute tribes, of the land and of the water, things that creep +and crawl, prowl and spring;--none that can lift its visage to the sky, +with a feeling that it is looking for its Maker and Master. There have +not existed upon the Earth, during the immense ages of its præhuman +existence, beings who could recognize and think of the Creator of the +world: and if astronomy introduces us, as geology has done, to a new +order of material structures, thus barren of an intelligent and +religious population, we must learn to accept the prospect, in the one +case, as in the other. Nor need we fear that on a further contemplation +of the universe, we shall find every part of it ministering, though +perhaps not in the way our first thoughts had guessed, to sentiments of +reverence and adoration towards the Maker of the universe. + +22. The truth is, as the slightest recollection of the course of opinion +about the stars may satisfy us, that men have had repeatedly to give up +the notions which they had adopted, of the manner in which the material +heavens, the stars and the skies, are to minister to man's feeling of +reverence for the Creator. It was long ago said, that the heavens +declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork: that +day and night, sun and moon, clouds and stars, unite in impressing upon +us this sentiment. And this language still finds a sympathetic echo, in +the breasts of all religious persons. Nor will it ever cease to do so, +however our opinions of the structure and nature of the heavenly bodies +may alter. When the new aspects of things become familiar, they will +show us the handiwork of God, and declare his glory, as plainly as the +old ones. But in the progress of opinions, man has often had to resign +what seemed to him, at the time, visions so beautiful, sublime, and +glorious, that they could not be dismissed without regret. The Universal +Lord was at one time conceived as directing the motions of all the +spheres by means of Ruling Angels, appointed to preside over each. The +prevalence of proportion and number, in the dimensions of these spheres, +was assumed to point to the existence of harmonious sounds, accompanying +their movements, though unheard by man; as proportion and number had +been found to be the accompaniments and conditions of harmony upon +earth. The time came, when these opinions were no longer consistent with +man's knowledge of the heavenly motions, and of the wide-spreading +causes by which they are produced. Then "Ruling Angels from their +spheres were hurled," as a matter of belief; though still the poets +loved to refer to imagery in which so many lofty and reverent thoughts +had so long been clothed. The aspect of the stars was most naturally +turned to a lesson of cheerful and thoughtful piety, by the adoption of +such a view of their nature and office; and thus, the midnight +contemplator of an Italian sky teaches his companion concerning the +starry host; + + Sit, Jessica; look how the floor of heav'n + Is thick inlaid with patterns of bright gold. + There's not the meanest orb, which thou behold'st, + But in his motion like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims; + Such harmony is in immortal souls. + +meaning, apparently, the harmony between the immortal spirits that +govern each star, and the cherubims that sing before the throne of God. +But however beautiful and sublime may be this representation, the +philosopher has had to abandon it in its literal sense. He may have +adopted, instead, the opinion that each of the stars is the seat, or the +centre of a group of seats, of choirs of worshippers; but this again, is +still to suppose the nature of those orbs to be entirely different from +that of this earth; though in many respects, we know that they are +governed by the same laws. And if he will be content to know no more +than he has the means of knowing, or even to know only according to his +best means of knowing, he must be prepared, if the force of proof so +requires, to give up this belief also; at least for the present. + +23. Indeed, those who have not been content with this, and have sought +to combine with the visible splendor of the skies, some scheme, founded +upon astronomical views, which shall people them with intelligent beings +and worshippers, have drawn upon their fancy quite as much as Lorenzo in +his lesson to Jessica; or rather, they have done what he and those from +whom his love was derived, had done before. They have taken the truths +which astronomers have discovered and taught, and made the objects and +regions so revealed, the scenes and occasions of such sentiments of +piety as they themselves have, or feel that they ought to have. Even in +Shakspeare, the stars are already _orbs_, each orb has his _motion_, and +in his motion produces the music of the spheres. More recent preachers, +following sounder views of the nature of these orbs and motions, have +been equally poetical when they come to their religious reflection. When +the poet of the _Night Thoughts_ says, + + "Each of these stars is a religious house; + I saw their altars smoke, their incense rise, + And heard hosannas ring through every sphere." + +he is no less imaginative than the poet of that _Midsummer Night's +Dream_, which we have in the _Merchant of Venice_. And we are compelled, +by all the evidence which we can discern, to say the same of the +preacher who speaks, from the pulpit, of these orbs of worlds, and tells +us of the stars which "give animation to other systems[4];" when he +says[5] "worlds roll in these distant regions; and these worlds must be +the centres of life and intelligence;" when he speaks of the earth[6] as +"the humblest of the provinces of God's empire." But then we must +recollect that these thoughts still prove the religious nature of man; +they show how he is impelled to endeavor to elevate his mind to God by +every part of the universe; and it is not too much to say, that through +the faculties of man, thus regarding the starry heavens, every star does +really testify to the greatness of God, and minister to His worship. + +24. We may trust that this mere material magnificence does not require +inhabitants, to make it lift man's heart towards the Universal Creator, +and to make him accept it as a sublime evidence of His greatness. The +grandest objects in nature are blank and void of life;--the +mountain-peaks that stand, ridge beyond ridge, serene in the region of +perpetual snow;--the summer-clouds, images of such mountain tracts, even +upon a grander scale, and tinted with more gorgeous colors;--the +thunder-cloud with its dazzling bolt;--the stormy ocean with its +mountainous waves;--the Aurora Borealis, with its mysterious pillars of +fire;--all these are sublime; all these elevate the soul, and make it +acknowledge a mighty Worker in the elements, in spite of any teaching of +a material philosophy. And if we have to regard the planets as merely +parts of the same great spectacle of nature, we shall not the less +regard them with an admiration which ministers to pious awe. Even merely +as a spectacle, Saturn made visible in his real shape, only by a vast +exertion of human skill, yet shining like a star, in form so curiously +complex, symmetrical and seemingly artificial, will never cease to be an +object of the ardent and contemplative gaze of all who catch a sight of +him. And however much the philosopher may teach that he is merely a mass +of water and vapor, ice and snow, he must be far more interesting to the +eye than the Alps, or the clouds that crown them, or the ocean with its +icebergs; where the same elements occur in forms comparatively shapeless +and lawless, irregular and chaotic. + +25. But perhaps there is in the minds of many persons, a sentiment +connected with this regular and symmetrical form of the heavenly bodies; +that being thus beautifully formed and finished they must have been the +objects of especial care to the Creator. These regular globes, these +nearly circular orbits, these families of satellites, they too so +regular in their movements; this ring of Saturn; all the adjustments by +which the planetary motions are secured from going wrong, as the +profoundest researches into the mechanics of the universe show;--all +these things seem to indicate a peculiar attention bestowed by the Maker +on each part of the machine. So much of law and order, of symmetry and +beauty in every part, implies, it may be thought, that every part has +been framed with a view to some use;--that its symmetry and its beauty +are the marks of some noble purpose. + +26. To reply to this argument, so far as it is requisite for us to do +so, we must recur to what we have already said; that though we see in +many parts of the universe, inorganic as well as organic, marks which we +cannot mistake, of design and purpose; yet that this design and purpose +are often effected by laws which are of a much wider sweep than the +design, so far as we can trace its bearing. These laws, besides +answering the purpose, produce many other effects, in which we can see +no purpose. We have now to observe further that these laws, thus ranging +widely through the universe, and working everywhere, as if the Creator +delighted in the generality of the law, independently of its special +application, do often produce innumerable results of beauty and +symmetry, as if the Creator delighted in beauty and symmetry, +independently of the purpose answered. + +27. Thus, to exemplify this reflection: the powers of aggregation and +cohesion, which hold together the parts of solid bodies, as metals and +stones, salts and ice,--which solidify matter, in short,--we can easily +see, to be necessary, in order to the formation and preservation of +solid terrestrial bodies. They are requisite, in order that man may have +the firm earth to stand upon, and firm materials to use. But let us +observe, what a wonderful and beautiful variety of phenomena grows out +of this law, with no apparent bearing upon that which seems to us its +main purpose. The power of aggregation of solid bodies is, in fact, the +force of crystallization. It binds together the particles of bodies by +molecular forces, which not only hold the particles together, but are +exerted in special directions, which form triangles, squares, hexagons, +and the like. And hence we have all the variety of crystalline forms +which sparkle in gems, ores, earths, pyrites, blendes; and which, when +examined by the crystallographers, are found to be an inexhaustible +field of the play of symmetrical complexity. The diamond, the emerald, +the topaz, have got each its peculiar kind of symmetry. Gold and other +metals have, for the basis of their forms, the cube, but run from this +into a vastly greater variety of regular solids than ever geometer +dreamt of. Some single species of minerals, as calc-spar, present +hundreds of forms, all rigorously regular, and have been alone the +subject of volumes. Ice crystallizes by the same laws as other solid +bodies; and our Arctic voyagers have sometimes relieved the weariness of +their sojourn in those regions, by collecting some of the innumerable +forms, resembling an endless collection of hexagonal flowers, sporting +into different shapes, which are assumed by flakes of snow[7]. In these +and many other ways, the power of crystallization produces an +inexhaustible supply of examples of symmetrical beauty. And what are we +to conceive to be the object and purpose of this? As we have said, that +part of the purpose which is intelligible to us is, that we have here a +force holding together the particles of bodies, so as to make them +solid. But all these pretty shapes add nothing to this intelligible use. +Why then are they there? They are there, it would seem, for their own +sake;--because they are pretty;--symmetry and beauty are there on their +own account; or because they are universal adjuncts of the general laws +by which the creator works. Or rather we may say, combining different +branches of our knowledge, that crystallization is the mark and +accompaniment of chemical composition: and that as chemical composition +takes place according to definite numbers, so crystalline aggregation +takes place according to definite forms. The symmetrical relations of +space in crystals correspond to the simple relations of number in +synthesis; and thus, because there is rule, there is regularity, and +regularity assumes the form of beauty. + +28. This, which thus shows itself throughout the mineral kingdom, or, +speaking more widely and truly, throughout the whole range of chemical +composition, is still more manifest in the vegetable domain. All the +vast array of flowers, so infinitely various, and so beautiful in their +variety, are the results of a few general laws; and show, in the degree +of their symmetry, the alternate operation of one law and another. The +rose, the lily, the cowslip, the violet, differ in something of the same +way, in which the crystalline forms of the several gems differ. Their +parts are arranged in fives or in threes, in pentagons or in hexagons, +and in these regular forms, one part or another is expanded or +contracted, rendered conspicuous by color or by shape, so as to produce +all the multiplicity of beauty which the florist admires. Or rather, in +the eye of the philosophical botanist, the whole of the structure of +plants, with all their array of stems and leaves, blossoms and fruits, +is but the manifestation of one Law; and all these members of the +vegetable form, are, in their natures, the same, developed more or less +in this way or in that. The daisy consists of a close cluster of flowers +of which each has, in its form, the rudiments of the valerian. The +peablossom is a rose, with some of its petals expanded into +butterfly-like wings. Even without changing the species, this general +law leads to endless changes. The garden-rose is the common hedge-rose +with innumerable filaments changed into glowing petals. By the addition +of whorl to whorl, of vegetable coronet over coronet, green and colored, +broad and narrow, filmy and rigid, every plant is generated, and the +glory of the field and of the garden, of the jungle and of the forest, +is brought forth in all its magnificence. Here, then, we have an +immeasurable wealth of beauty and regularity, brought to view by the +operation of a single law. And to what use? What purpose do these +beauties answer? What is the object for which the lilies of the field +are clothed so gaily and gorgeously? Some plants, indeed, are +subservient to the use of animals and of man: but how small is the +number in which we can trace this, as an intelligent purpose of their +existence! And does it not, in fact, better express the impression which +the survey of this province of nature suggests to us, to say, that they +grow because the Creator willed that they should grow? Their vegetable +life was an object of His care and contrivance, as well as animal and +human life. And they are beautiful, also because He willed that they +should be so:--because He delights in producing beauty;--and, as we have +further tried to make it appear, because He acts by general law, and law +produces beauty. Is not such a tendency here apparent, as a part of the +general scheme of Creation? + +29. We have already attempted to show, that in the structure of animals, +especially that large class best known to us, vertebrate animals, there +is also a general plan which, so far as we can see, goes beyond the +circuit of the special adaptation of each animal to its mode of living: +and is a rule of creative action, in addition to the rule that the parts +shall be subservient to an intelligible purpose of animal life. We have +noticed several phenomena in the animal kingdom, where parts and +features appear, rudimentary and inert, discharging no office in their +economy, and speaking to us, not of purpose, but of law:--consistent +with an end which is visible, but seemingly the results of a rule whose +end is in itself. + +30. And do we not, in innumerable cases, see beauties of color and form, +texture and lustre, which suggests to us irresistibly the belief that +beauty and regular form are rules of the Creative agency, even when they +seem to us, looking at the creation for uses only, idle and wanton +expenditure of beauty and regularity. To what purpose are the host of +splendid circles which decorate the tail of the peacock, more beautiful, +each of them, than Saturn with his rings? To what purpose the exquisite +textures of microscopic objects, more curiously regular than anything +which the telescope discloses? To what purpose the gorgeous colors of +tropical birds and insects, that live and die where human eye never +approaches to admire them? To what purpose the thousands of species of +butterflies with the gay and varied embroidery of their microscopic +plumage, of which one in millions, if seen at all, only draws the +admiration of the wandering schoolboy? To what purpose the delicate and +brilliant markings of shells, which live, generation after generation, +in the sunless and sightless depths of the ocean? Do not all these +examples, to which we might add countless others, (for the world, so far +as human eye has scanned it, is full of them,) prove that beauty and +regularity are universal features of the work of Creation, in all its +parts, small and great: and that we judge in a way contrary to a vast +range of analogy, which runs through the whole of the Universe, when we +infer that, because the objects which are presented to our contemplation +are beautiful in aspect and regular in form, they must, in each case, be +means for some special end, of those which we commonly fix upon, as the +main ends of the Creation, the support and advantage of animals or of +man? + +31. If this be so, then the beautiful and regular objects which the +telescope reveals to us; Jupiter and his Moons, Saturn and his Rings, +the most regular of the Double Stars, Clusters and Nebulæ; cannot +reasonably be inferred, because they are beautiful and regular, to be +also fields of life, or scenes of thought. They may be, as to the poet's +eye they often appear, the gems of the robe of Night, the flowers of the +celestial fields. Like gems and like flowers, they are beautiful and +regular, because they are brought into being by vast and general laws. +These laws, although, in the mind of the Creator, they have their +sufficient reason, as far as they extend, may have, in no other region +than that which we inhabit, the reason which we seek to discover +everywhere, the sustentation of a life like ours. That we should connect +with the existence of such laws, the existence of Mind like our own +mind, is most natural; and, as we might easily show, is justifiable, +reasonable, even necessary. But that we should suppose the result of +such laws are so connected with Mind, that wherever the laws gather +matter into globes, and whirl it round the central body, _there_ is also +a local seat of minds like ours; is an assumption altogether +unwarranted; and is, without strong evidence, of which we have as yet no +particle, quite visionary. + +32. But finally, it may be said that by this our view of the universe, +we diminish the greatness of the work of creation, and the majesty of +the Creator. Such a view appears to represent the other planets as mere +fragments, which have flown off in the fabrication of this our earth, +and of the mechanism by which it answers its purpose. Instead of a vast +array of completed worlds, we have one world, surrounded by abortive +worlds and inert masses. Instead of perfection everywhere, we have +imperfection everywhere, except at one spot; if even there the +workmanship be perfect. + +33. To this, the reply is contained in what we have already said: but we +may add, that it cannot be wise or right, to prop up our notions of +God's greatness, by physical doctrines which will not bear discussion. +God's greatness has no need of man's inventions for its support. The +very conviction that the Creation must be such as to confirm our belief +in the greatness of God, shows that such a belief is more deeply seated +than any special views of the structure of the universe, and will +triumphantly survive the removal of error in such views. We may add, +that till within a few thousand years, this earth, compared with what it +now is, having upon it no intelligent beings, might be regarded as an +abortive world; that all the parts of the solar system which we can best +scrutinize, the moon, and meteoric stones, are inert masses; and +further, that there is everywhere the perfection which results from the +operation of law, and that _that_ seems to be the perfection with which +the Creator is contented. + +34. And perhaps, when the view of the universe which we here present has +become familiar, we may be led to think that the aspect which it gives +to the mode of working of the Creator, is sufficiently grand and +majestic. Instead of manufacturing a multitude of worlds on patterns +more or less similar, He has been employed in one great work, which we +cannot call imperfect, since it includes and suggests all that we can +conceive of perfection. It may be that all the other bodies, which we +can discover in the universe, show the greatness of this work, and are +rolled into forms of symmetry and order, into masses of light and +splendor, by the vast whirl which the original creative energy imparted +to the luminous element. The planets and the stars are the lumps which +have flown from the potter's wheel of the Great Worker;--the shred-coils +which, in the working, sprang from His mighty lathe:--the sparks which +darted from His awful anvil when the solar system lay incandescent +thereon;--the curls of vapor which rose from the great cauldron of +creation when its elements were separated. If even these superfluous +portions of the material are marked with universal traces of regularity +and order, this shows that universal rules are his implements, and that +Order is the first and universal Law of the heavenly work. + +35. And, that we may see the full dignity of this work, we must always +recollect that Man is a part of it, and the crowning part. The +workmanship which is employed on mere matter is, after all, of small +account, in the eyes of intellectual and moral creatures, when compared +with the creation and government of intellectual and moral creatures. +The majesty of God does not reside in planets and stars, in orbs and +systems; which are, after all, only stone and vapor, materials and +means. If, as we believe, God has not only made the material world, but +has made and governs man, we need not regret to have to depress any +portion of the material world below the place which we had previously +assigned to it; for, when all is done, the material world _must_ be put +in an inferior place, compared with the world of mind. If there be a +World of Mind, _that_, according to all that we can conceive, must have +been better worth creating, must be more worthy to exist, as an object +of care in the eyes of the Creator, than thousands and millions of stars +and planets, even if they were occupied by a myriad times as many +species of brute animals as have lived upon the earth since its +vivification. In saying this, we are only echoing the common voice of +mankind, uttered, as so often it is, by the tongues of poets. One such +speaks thus of stellar systems: + + Behold this midnight splendor, worlds on worlds; + Ten thousand add and twice ten thousand more, + Then weigh the whole: one soul outweighs them all, + And calls the seeming vast magnificence + Of unintelligent creation, poor. + +And as this is true of intelligence, with the suggestion which that +faculty so naturally offers, of the inextinguishable nature of mind, so +is it true of the moral nature of man. No accumulation of material +grandeur, even if it fill the universe, has any dignity in our eyes, +compared with moral grandeur: as poetry has also expressed: + + Look then abroad through nature, to the range + Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres, + Wheeling unshaken through the void immense, + And speak, O man! Can this capacious scene + With half that kindling majesty exalt + Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose + Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate + Amid the band of patriots; and his arm + Aloft extending, like eternal Jove + When guilt calls down the thunder, call'd aloud + On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, + And bade the Father of his Country, Hail! + For lo! the tyrant prostrate in the dust, + And Rome again is free. + +This action being taken, as it is here meant to be conceived, for one of +the highest examples of moral greatness. And however we may judge of +this action, we must allow that the characters which are implied in this +praise of it,--the loftiest kinds of moral excellence,--are more +suitable to the highest idea of the object and purpose of a Deity +creating worlds, than would be any mere material structure of planets +and suns, whether kept in their places by adamantine spheres, wheeling +unshaken through the void immense, or themselves wheeling unshaken by +the power of a universal law. The thoughts of Rights and Obligations, +Duty and Virtue, of Law and Liberty, of Country and Constitution, of the +Glory of our Ancestors, the Elevation of our Fellow-Citizens, the +Freedom and Happiness and Dignity of Posterity,--are thoughts which +belong to a world, a race, a body of beings, of which any one +individual, with the capacities which such thoughts imply, is more +worthy of account, than millions of millions of mollusks and belemnites, +lizards and fishes, sloths and pachyderms, diffused through myriads of +worlds. + +36. We might illustrate this argument further, by taking actions of the +moral character of which there will be less doubt. If we look at the +great acts which render Greece illustrious and interesting in our +eyes,--such as the death of Socrates, for instance, the triumph of a +reverence for Law and a love of country;--can we think it any real +diminution of the glory of the universe, if we are reduced to the +necessity of rejecting the belief in a multitude of worlds, which +though, it may be, peopled with lower animals, contain none endowed with +any higher principle than hunger and thirst? + +37. That the human race possesses a worth in the eyes of Reason beyond +that which any material structure, or any brute population can possess, +might be maintained on still higher and stronger grounds; namely, on +religious grounds: but we do not intend here to dwell on that part of +the subject. If man be, not merely (and he alone of all animals) capable +of Virtue and Duty, of Universal Love and Self-Devotion, but be also +immortal; if his being be of infinite duration, his soul created never +to die; then, indeed, we may well say that one soul outweighs the whole +unintelligent creation. And if the Earth have been the scene of an +action of Love and Self-Devotion for the incalculable benefit of the +whole human race, in comparison with which the death of Socrates fades +into a mere act of cheerful resignation to the common lot of humanity; +and if this action, and its consequences to the whole race of man, in +his temporal and eternal destiny, and in his history on earth before and +after it, were the main object for which man was created, the cardinal +point round which the capacities and the fortunes of the race were to +turn; then indeed we see that the Earth has a pre-eminence in the scheme +of creation, which may well reconcile us to regard all the material +splendor which surrounds it, all the array of mere visible luminaries +and masses which accompany it, as no unfitting appendages to such a +drama. The elevation of millions of intellectual, moral, religious, +spiritual creatures, to a destiny so prepared, consummated, and +developed, is no unworthy occupation of all the capacities of space, +time, and matter. And, so far as any one has yet shown, to regard this +great scheme as other than the central point of the divine plan; to +consider it as one part among other parts, similar, co-ordinate, or +superior; involves those who so speculate, in difficulties, even with +regard to the plan itself, which they strive in vain to reconcile; while +the assumption of the subjects of such a plan, in other regions of the +universe, is at variance with all which we, looking at the analogies of +space and time, of earth and stars, of life in brutes and in man, have +found reason to deem in any degree probable. + +38. And thus that conjecture of the Plurality of Worlds, to which a wide +and careful examination of the physical constitution of the Universe +supplied no confirmation, derives also little support from a +contemplation of the Design which the Creator may be supposed to have +had in the work of the Creation; when such Design is regarded in a +comprehensive manner, and in all its bearings. Such a survey seems to +speak rather in favor of the Unity of the World, than of a Plurality of +Worlds. A further consideration of the intellectual, moral, and +religious nature of man may still further illustrate this view; and with +that object, we shall make a few additional remarks. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The greatest anatomists, and especially Mr. Owen, have recently +expressed their conviction, that researches on the structure of animals +must be guided by the principle of _unity of composition_ as well as the +principle of _final causes_. See Owen _On the Nature of Limbs_. + +[2] This has been termed by physiologists _The Law of the Development +from the General to the Special_. + +[3] Every reader of physiological works knows how easy it would be to +multiply examples of this kind to any extent. Thus it is held by +physiologists, that the sporules of fungi are universally diffused +through the atmosphere, ready to vegetate whenever an opportunity +presents itself: and that a single individual produces not less than ten +millions of germs. It is held also that innumerable seeds of plants +still capable of vegetation, lie in strata far below the earth's +surface, finding the occasion to vegetate only by the rarest and most +exceptional occurrences.--Carpenter, _Manual of Physiology_. 1851, Art. +44. + +[4] Chalmers, p. 35. + +[5] Ibid. p. 21 + +[6] Ibid. p. 119. + +[7] Dr. Scoresby, in his _Account of the Arctic Regions_ (1820) Vol. II. +has given figures of 96 such forms, selected for their eminent +regularity from many more. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE UNITY OF THE WORLD. + + +1. The two doctrines which we have here to weigh against each other are +the Plurality of Worlds, and the Unity of the World. In so saying, we +include in our present view, a necessary part of the conception of a +_World_, a collection of intelligent creatures: for even if the +suppositions to which we have been led, respecting the kind of +unintelligent living things which may inhabit other parts of the +Universe, be conceived to be probable; such a belief will have little +interest for most persons, compared with the belief of other worlds, +where reside intelligence, perception of truth, recognition of moral +Law, and reverence for a Divine Creator and Governor. In looking +outwards at the Universe, there are certain aspects which suggest to +man, at first sight, a conjecture that there may be other bodies like +the Earth, tenanted by other creatures like man. This conjecture, +however, receives no confirmation from a closer inquiry, with increased +means of observation. Let us now look inwards, at the constitution of +man; and consider some characters of his nature, which seem to remove or +lessen the difficulties which we may at first feel, in regarding the +Earth as, in a unique and special manner, the field of God's Providence +and Government. + +2. In the first place, the Earth, as the abode of man, the intellectual +creature, contains a being, whose mind is, in some measure, of the same +nature as the Divine Mind of the Creator. The Laws which man discovers +in the Creation must be Laws known to God. The truths,--for instance the +truths of geometry,--which man sees to be true, God also must see to be +true. That there were, from the beginning, in the Creative Mind, +Creative Thoughts, is a doctrine involved in every intelligent view of +Creation. + +3. This doctrine was presented by the ancients in various forms; and the +most recent scientific discoveries have supplied new illustrations of +it. The mode in which Plato expressed the doctrine which we are here +urging was, that there were in the Divine Mind, before or during the +work of creation, certain archetypal Ideas, certain exemplars or +patterns of the world and its parts, according to which the work was +performed: so that these Ideas or Exemplars existed in the objects +around us being in so many cases discernible by man, and being the +proper objects of human reason. If a mere metaphysician were to attempt +to revive this mode of expressing the doctrine, probably his +speculations would be disregarded, or treated as a pedantic +resuscitation of obsolete Platonic dreams. But the adoption of such +language must needs be received in a very different manner, when it +proceeds from a great discoverer in the field of natural knowledge: when +it is, as it were, forced upon _him_, as the obvious and appropriate +expression of the result of the most profound and comprehensive +researches into the frame of the whole animal creation. The recent works +of Mr. Owen, and especially one work, _On the Nature of Limbs_, are full +of the most energetic and striking passages, inculcating the doctrine +which we have been endeavoring to maintain. We may take the liberty of +enriching our pages with one passage bearing upon the present part of +the subject. + +"If the world were made by any antecedent Mind or Understanding, that +is by a Deity, then there must needs be an Idea and Exemplar of the +whole world before it was made, and consequently actual knowledge, both +in the order of Time and Nature, before Things. But conceiving of +knowledge as it was got by their own finite minds, and ignorant of any +evidence of an ideal Archetype for the world or any part of it, they +[the Democritic Philosophers who denied a Divine Creative Mind] affirmed +that there was none, and concluded that there could be no knowledge or +mind before the world was, as its cause." Plato's assertion of +Archetypal Ideas was a protest against this doctrine, but was rather a +guess, suggested by the nature of mathematical demonstration, than a +doctrine derived from a contemplation of the external world. + +"Now however," Mr. Owen continues, "the recognition of an ideal exemplar +for the vertebrated animals proves that the knowledge of such a being as +Man must have existed before Man appeared. For the Divine Mind which +planned the Archetypal also foreknew all its modifications. The +Archetypal Idea was manifested in the flesh under divers modifications +upon this planet, long prior to the existence of those animal species +which actually exemplify it. To what natural or secondary causes the +orderly succession and progression of such organic phenomena may have +been committed, we are as yet ignorant. But if without derogation to the +Divine Power, we may conceive such ministers and personify them by the +term _Nature_, we learn from the past history of our globe that she has +advanced with slow and stately steps, guided by the archetypal light +amidst the wreck of worlds, from the first embodiment of the vertebrate +idea, under its old ichthyic vestment, until it became arrayed in the +glorious garb of the human form." + +4. Law implies a Lawgiver, even when we do not see the object of the +Law; even as Design implies a Designer, when we do not see the object of +the Design. The Laws of Nature are the indications of the operation of +the Divine Mind; and are revealed to us, as such, by the operations of +our minds, by which we come to discover them. They are the utterances of +the Creator, delivered in language which we can understand; and being +thus Language, they are the utterances of an Intelligent Spirit. + +5. It may seem to some persons too bold a view, to identify, so far as +we thus do, certain truths as seen by man, and as seen by God:[1]--to +make the Divine Mind thus cognizant of the truths of geometry, for +instance. If any one has such a scruple, we may remark that truth, when +of so luminous and stable a kind as are the truths of geometry, must be +alike _Truth_ for all minds, even for the highest. The mode of arriving +at the knowledge of such truths, may be very different, even for +different human minds;--deduction for some;--intuition for others. But +the intuitive apprehension of necessary truth is an act so purely +intellectual, that even in the Supreme Intellect, we may suppose that it +has its place. Can we conceive otherwise, than that God does contemplate +the universe as existing in space, since it really does so;--and subject +to the relations of space, since these are as real as space itself? We +are well aware that the Supreme Being must contemplate the world under +many other aspects than this;--even man does so. But that does not +prevent the truths, which belong to the aspect of the world, +contemplated as existing in space, from being truths, regarded as such, +even by the Divine Mind. + +6. If these reflections are well founded, as we trust they will, on +consideration, be seen to be, we may adopt many of the expressions by +which philosophers heretofore have attempted to convey similar views; +for in fact, this view, in its general bearing at least, is by no means +new. The Mind of Man is a partaker of the thoughts of the Divine Mind. +The Intellect of Man is a spark of the Light by which the world was +created. The Ideas according to which man builds up his knowledge, are +emanations of the archetypal Ideas according to which the work of +creation was planned and executed. These, and many the like expressions, +have been often used; and we now see, we may trust, that there is a +great philosophical truth, which they all tend to convey; and this truth +shows at the same time, how man may have some knowledge respecting the +Laws of Nature, and how this knowledge may, in some cases, seem to be a +knowledge of necessary relations, as in the case of space.[2] + +7. Now, the views to which we have been led, bear very strongly upon +that argument. For if man, when he attains to a knowledge of such laws, +is really admitted, in some degree, to the view with which the Creator +himself beholds his creation;--if we can gather, from the conditions of +such knowledge, that his intellect partakes of the Nature of the Supreme +Intellect;--if his Mind, in its clearest and largest contemplations, +harmonizes with the Divine Mind;--we have, in this, a reason which may +well seem to us very powerful, why, even if the Earth alone be the +habitation of intelligent beings, still, the great work of Creation is +not wasted. If God have placed upon the earth a creature who can so far +sympathize with Him, if we may venture upon the expression;--who can +raise his intellect into some accordance with the Creative Intellect; +and that, not once only, nor by few steps, but through an indefinite +gradation of discoveries, more and more comprehensive, more and more +profound; each, an advance, however slight, towards a Divine +Insight;--then, so far as intellect alone (and we are here speaking of +intellect alone) can make Man a worthy object of all the vast +magnificence of Creative Power, we can hardly shrink from believing that +he is so. + +8. We may remark further, that this view of God, as the Author of the +Laws of the Universe, leads to a view of all the phenomena and objects +of the world, as the work of God; not a work made, and laid out of hand, +but a field of his present activity and energy. And such a view cannot +fail to give an aspect of dignity to all that is great in creation, and +of beauty to all that is symmetrical, which otherwise they could not +have. Accordingly, it is by calling to their thoughts the presence of +God as suggested by scenes of grandeur or splendor, that poets often +reach the sympathies of their readers. And this dignity and sublimity +appear especially to belong to the larger objects, which are destitute +of conscious life; as the mountain, the glacier, the pine-forest, the +ocean; since in these, we are, as it were, alone with God, and the only +present witnesses of His mysterious working. + +9. Now if this reflection be true, the vast bodies which hang in the +sky, at such immense distances from us, and roll on their courses, and +spin round their axles with such exceeding rapidity; Jupiter and his +array of Moons, Saturn with his still larger host of Satellites, and +with his wonderful Ring, and the other large and distant Planets, will +lose nothing of their majesty, in our eyes, by being uninhabited; any +more than the summer-clouds, which perhaps are formed of the same +materials, lose their dignity from the same cause;--any more than our +Moon, one of the tribe of satellites, loses her soft and tender beauty, +when we have ascertained that she is more barren of inhabitants than the +top of Mount Blanc. However destitute the planets and moons and rings +may be of inhabitants, they are _at least vast scenes of God's +presence,_ and of the activity with which he carries into effect, +everywhere, the laws of nature. The light which comes to us from them is +transmitted according to laws which He has established, by an energy +which He maintains. The remotest planet is not devoid of life, for God +lives there. At each stage which we make, from planet to planet, from +star to star, into the regions of infinity, we may say, with the +patriarch, "Surely God is here, and I knew it not." And when those who +question the habitability of the remote planets and stars are reproached +as presenting a view of the universe, which takes something from the +magnificence hitherto ascribed to it, as the scene of God's glory, shown +in the things which He has created; they may reply, that they do not at +all disturb that glory of the creation which arises from its being, not +only the product, but the constant field of God's activity and thought, +wisdom and power; and they may perhaps ask, in return, whether the +dignity of the Moon would be greatly augmented if her surface were +ascertained to be abundantly peopled with lizards; or whether Mount +Blanc would be more sublime, if millions of frogs were known to live in +the crevasses of its glaciers. + +10. Again: the Earth is a scene of Moral Trial. Man is subject to a +Moral Law; and this Moral Law is a Law of which God is the Legislator. +It is a law which man has the power of discovering, by the use of the +faculties which God has given him. By considering the nature and +consequences of actions, man is able to discern, in a great measure, +what is right and what is wrong;--what he ought and what he ought not to +do;--what his duty and virtue, what his crime and vice. Man has a Law on +such subjects, written on his heart, as the Apostle Paul says. He has a +conscience which accuses or excuses him; and thus, recognizes his acts +as worthy of condemnation or approval. And thus, man is, and knows +himself to be, the subject of Divine Law, commanding and prohibiting; +and is here, in a state of probation, as to how far he will obey or +disobey this Law. He has impulses, springs of action, which urge him to +the violation of this Law. Appetite, Desire, Anger, Lust, Greediness, +Envy, Malice, impel him to courses which are vicious. But these impulses +he is capable of resisting and controlling;--of avoiding the vices and +practising the opposite virtues;--and of rising from one stage of Virtue +to another, by a gradual and successive purification and elevation of +the desires, affections and habits, in a degree, so far as we know, +without limit. + +11. Now in considering the bearing of this view upon our original +subject, we have, in the first place, to make this remark: that the +existence of a body of creatures, capable of such a Law, of such a +Trial, and of such an Elevation as this, is, according to all that we +can conceive, an object infinitely more worthy of the exertion of the +Divine Power and Wisdom, in the Creation of the universe, than any +number of planets occupied by creatures having no such lot, no such law, +no such capacities, and no such responsibilities. However imperfectly +the moral law be obeyed; however ill the greater part of mankind may +respond to the appointment which places them here in a state of moral +probation; however few those may be who use the capacities and means of +their moral purification and elevation;--still, that there is such a +plan in the creation, and that any respond to its appointments,--is +really a view of the Universe which we can conceive to be suitable to +the nature of God, because we can approve of it, in virtue of the moral +nature which He has given us. One school of moral discipline, one +theatre of moral action, one arena of moral contests for the highest +prizes, is a sufficient centre for innumerable hosts of stars and +planets, globes of fire and earth, water and air, whether or not +tenanted by corals and madrepores, fishes and creeping things. So great +and majestic are those names of _Right_ and _Good_, _Duty_ and _Virtue_, +that all mere material or animal existence is worthless in the +comparison. + +12. But further: let us consider what is this moral progress of which we +have spoken;--this purification and elevation of man's inner being. +Man's intellectual progress, his advance in the knowledge of the general +laws of the Universe, we found reason to believe that we were not +describing unfitly, when we spoke of it as bringing us nearer to +God;--as making our thoughts, in some degree, resemble His thoughts;--as +enabling us to see things as He sees them. And on that account, we held +that the placing man, with his intellectual powers, in a condition in +which he was impelled, and enabled, to seek such knowledge, was of +itself a great thing, and tended much to give to the Creation a worthy +end. Now the moral elevation of man's being is the elevation of his +sentiments and affections towards a standard or idea, which God, by his +Law, has indicated as that point towards which man ought to tend. We do +not ascribe _Virtue_ to God, adapting to Him our notions taken from +man's attributes, as we do when we ascribe Knowledge to God: for Virtue +implies the control and direction of human springs of action;--implies +human efforts and human habits. But we ascribe to God infinite Goodness, +Justice, and Truth, as well as infinite Wisdom and Power; and Goodness, +Justice, Truth, form elements of the character at which man also is, by +the Moral Law, directed to aim. So far, therefore, man's moral progress +is a progress towards a likeness with God; and such a progress, even +more than a progress towards an intellectual likeness with God, may be +conceived as making the soul of man fit to endure forever with God; and +therefore, as making this earth a prefatory stage of human souls, to fit +them for eternity;--a nursery of plants which are to be fully unfolded +in a celestial garden. + +13. And to this, we must add that, on other accounts also, as well as on +account of the capacity of the human soul for moral and intellectual +progress, thoughtful men have always been disposed, on grounds supplied +by the light of nature, to believe in the existence of human souls after +this present earthly life is past. Such a belief has been cherished in +all ages and nations, as the mode in which we naturally conceive that +which is apparently imperfect and deficient in the moral government of +the world, to be completed and perfected. And if this mortal life be +thus really only the commencement of an infinite Divine Plan, beginning +upon earth and destined to endure for endless ages after our earthly +life; we need no array of other worlds in the universe to give +sufficient dignity and majesty to the scheme of the Creation. + +14. We may make another remark which may have an important bearing upon +our estimate of the value of the moral scheme of the world which +occupies the earth. If, by any act of the Divine Government, the number +of those men should be much increased, who raise themselves towards the +moral standard which God has appointed, and thus, towards a likeness to +God, and a prospect of a future eternal union with him;--such an act of +Divine Government would do far more towards making the Universe a scene +in which God's goodness and greatness were largely displayed, than could +be done by any amount of peopling of planets with creatures who were +incapable of moral agency; or with creatures whose capacity for the +development of their moral faculties was small, and would continue to be +small till such an act of Divine Government were performed. The +Interposition of God, in the history of man, to remedy man's feebleness +in moral and spiritual tasks, and to enable those who profit by the +Interposition, to ascend towards a union with God, is an event entirely +out of the range of those natural courses of events which belong to our +subject; and to such an Interposition, therefore, we must refer with +great reserve; using great caution that we do not mix up speculations +and conjectures of our own, with what has been revealed to man +concerning such an Interposition. But this, it would seem, we may +say:--that such a Divine Interposition for the moral and spiritual +elevation of the human race, and for the encouragement and aid of those +who seek the purification and elevation of their nature, and an eternal +union with God, is far more suitable to the Idea of a God of Infinite +Goodness, Purity, and Greatness, than any supposed multiplication of a +population, (on our planet or on any other,) not provided with such +means of moral and spiritual progress. + +15. And if we were, instead of such a supposition, to imagine to +ourselves, in other regions of the Universe, a moral population purified +and elevated without the aid or need of any such Divine Interposition; +the supposed possibility of such a moral race would make the sin and +misery, which deform and sadden the aspect of our earth, appear more +dark and dismal still. We should therefore, it would seem, find no +theological congruity, and no religious consolation, in the assumption +of a Plurality of Worlds of Moral Beings: while, to place the seats of +such worlds in the Stars and the Planets, would be, as we have already +shown, a step discountenanced by physical reasons; and discountenanced +the more, the more the light of science is thrown upon it. + +16. Perhaps it may be said, that all which we have urged to show that +other animals, in comparison with man, are less worthy objects of +creative design, may be used as an argument to prove that other planets +are tenanted by men, or by moral and intellectual creatures like man; +since, if the creation of _one_ world of such creatures exalts so highly +our views of the dignity and importance of the plan of creation, the +belief in _many_ such worlds must elevate still more our sentiments of +admiration and reverence of the greatness and goodness of the Creator; +and must be a belief, on that account, to be accepted and cherished by +pious minds. + +17. To this we reply, that we cannot think ourselves authorized to +assert cosmological doctrines, selected arbitrarily by ourselves, on the +ground of their exalting our sentiments of admiration and reverence for +the Deity, _when the weight of all the evidence which we can obtain +respecting the constitution of the universe is against them_. It appears +to us, that to discern one great scheme of moral and religious +government, which is the spiritual centre of the universe, may well +suffice for the religious sentiments of men in the present age; as in +former ages such a view of creation was sufficient to overwhelm men with +feelings of awe, and gratitude, and love; and to make them confess, in +the most emphatic language, that all such feelings were an inadequate +response to the view of the scheme of Providence which was revealed to +them. The thousands of millions of inhabitants of the Earth to whom the +effects of the Divine Plan extend, will not seem, to the greater part of +religious persons, to need the addition of more, to fill our minds with +sufficiently vast and affecting contemplations, so far as we are capable +of pursuing such contemplations. The possible extension of God's +spiritual kingdom upon the earth will probably appear to them a far more +interesting field of devout meditation, than the possible addition to it +of the inhabitants of distant stars, connected in some inscrutable +manner with the Divine Plan. + +18. To justify our saying that the weight of the evidence is against +such cosmological doctrines, we must recall to the reader's recollection +the whole course of the argument which we have been pursuing. + +It is a possible conjecture, at first, that there may be other Worlds, +having, as this has, their moral and intellectual attributes, and their +relations to the Creator. It is also a possible conjecture, that this +World, having such attributes, and such relations, may, on that account, +be necessarily unique and incapable of repetition, peculiar, and +spiritually central. These two opposite possibilities may be placed, at +first, front to front, as balancing each other. We must then weigh such +evidence and such analogies as we can find on the one side or on the +other. We see much in the intellectual and moral nature of man, and in +his history, to confirm the opinion that the human race is thus unique, +peculiar and central. In the views which Religion presents, we find much +more, tending the same way, and involving the opposite supposition in +great difficulties. We find, in our knowledge of what we ourselves are, +reasons to believe that if there be, in any other planet, intellectual +and moral beings, they must not only be _like_ men, but must _be_ men, +in all the attributes which we can conceive as belonging to such beings. +And yet to suppose other groups of the human species, in other parts of +the universe, must be allowed to be a very bold hypothesis, to be +justified only by some positive evidence in its favor. When from these +views, drawn from the attributes and relations of man, we turn to the +evidence drawn from physical conditions, we find very strong reason to +believe that, so far as the Solar System is concerned, the Earth _is_, +with regard to the conditions of life, in a peculiar and central +position; so that the conditions of any life approaching at all to human +life, exist on the Earth alone. As to other systems which may circle +other suns, the possibility of their being inhabited by men, remains, as +at first, a mere conjecture, without any trace of confirmatory evidence. +It was suggested at first by the supposed analogy of other stars to our +sun; but this analogy has not been verified in any instance; and has +been, we conceive, shown in many cases, to vanish altogether. And that +there may be such a plan of creation,--one in which the moral and +intelligent race of man is the climax and central point to which +innumerable races of mere unintelligent species tend,--we have the most +striking evidence, in the history of our own earth, as disclosed by +geology. We are left, therefore, with nothing to cling to, on one side, +but the bare possibility that some of the stars are the centres of +systems like the Solar System;--an opinion founded upon the single +fact, shown to be highly ambiguous, of those stars being self-luminous; +and to this possibility, we oppose all the considerations, flowing from +moral, historical, and religious views, which represent the human race +as unique and peculiar. The force of these considerations will, of +course, be different in different minds, according to the importance +which each person attaches to such moral, historical, and religious +views; but whatever the weight of them may be deemed, it is to be +recollected that we have on the other side a bare possibility, a mere +conjecture; which, though suggested at first by astronomical +discoveries, all more recent astronomical researches have failed to +confirm in the smallest degree. In this state of our knowledge, and with +such grounds of belief, to dwell upon the Plurality of Worlds of +intellectual and moral creatures, as a highly probable doctrine, must, +we think, be held to be eminently rash and unphilosophical. + +19. On such a subject, where the evidences are so imperfect, and our +power of estimating analogies so small, far be it from us to speak +positively and dogmatically. And if any one holds the opinion, on +whatever evidence, that there are other spheres of the Divine Government +than this earth,--other regions in which God has subjects and +servants,--other beings who do his will, and who, it may be, are +connected with the moral and religious interests of man;--we do not +breathe a syllable against such a belief; but, on the contrary, regard +it with a ready and respectful sympathy. It is a belief which finds an +echo in pious and reverent hearts;[3] and it is, of itself, an evidence +of that religious and spiritual character in man, which is one of the +points of our argument. But the discussion of such a belief does not +belong to the present occasion, any further than to observe, that it +would be very rash and unadvised,--a proceeding unwarranted, we think, +by Religion, and certainly at variance with all that Science +teaches,--to place those other, extra-human spheres of Divine +Government, in the Planets and in the Stars. With regard to the planets +and the stars, if we reason at all, we must reason on physical grounds; +we must suppose, as to a great extent we can prove that the laws and +properties of terrestrial matter and motion apply to them also. On such +grounds, it is as improbable that visitants from Jupiter or from Sirius +can come to the Earth, as that men can pass to those stars: as unlikely +that inhabitants of those stars know and take an interest in human +affairs, as that we can learn what they are doing. A belief in the +Divine Government of other races of spiritual creatures besides the +human race, and in Divine Ministrations committed to such beings, cannot +be connected with our physical and astronomical views of the nature of +the stars and the planets, without making a mixture altogether +incongruous and incoherent; a mixture of what is material and what is +spiritual, adverse alike to sound religion and to sound philosophy. + +20. Perhaps again, it may be said, that in speaking of the shortness of +the time during which man has occupied the earth, in comparison with the +previous ages of irrational life, and of blank matter, we are taking man +at his present period of existence on the earth:--that we do not know +that the race may not be destined to continue upon the earth for as many +ages as preceded the creation of man. And to this we reply, that in +reasoning, as we must do, at the present period, we can only proceed +upon that which has happened up to the present period. If we do not +know how long man will continue to inhabit the earth, we cannot reason +as if we did know that he will inhabit it longer than any other species +has done. We may not dwell upon a mere possibility, which, it is +assumed, may at some indefinitely future period, alter the aspect of the +facts now before us. For it would be as easy to assume possibilities +which may come hereafter to alter the aspect of the facts, in favor of +the one side, as of the other.[4] What the future destinies of our race, +and of the earth, may be, is a subject which is, for us, shrouded in +deep darkness. It would be very rash to assume that they will be such as +to alter the impression derived from what we now know, and to alter it +in a certain preconceived manner. But yet it is natural to form +conjectures on this subject; and perhaps we may be allowed to consider +for a moment what kind of conjectures the existing stage of our +knowledge suggests, when we allow ourselves the license of conjecturing. +The next Chapter contains some remarks bearing upon such conjectures. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Among the most recent expositors of this doctrine we may place M. +Henri Martin, whose _Philosophie Spiritualiste de la Nature_ is full of +striking views of the universe in its relation to God. (Paris. 1849.) + +[2] Most readers who have given any attention to speculations of this +kind, will recollect Newton's remarkable expressions concerning the +Deity: "Æternus est et infinitus, omnipotens et omnisciens; id est, +durat ab æterno in æternum, et adest ab infinito in infinitum.... Non +est æternitas et infinitas, sed æternus et infinitus; non est duratio et +spatium, sed durat et adest. Durat semper et adest ubique, et existendo +semper et ubique durationem et spatium constituit." + +To say that God by existing always and everywhere _constitutes duration +and space_, appears to be a form of expression better avoided. Besides +that it approaches too near to the opinion, which the writer rejects, +that He _is_ duration and space, it assumes a knowledge of the nature of +the Divine existence, beyond our means of knowing, and therefore rashly. +It appears to be safer, and more in conformity with what we really know, +to say, not that the existence of God constitutes time and space; but +that God has constituted _man_, so that _he_ can apprehend the works of +creation, only as existing in time and space. That God has constituted +time and space as conditions of man's knowledge of the creation, is +certain: that God has constituted time and space as results of his own +existence in any other way, _we_ cannot know. + +[3] + "For doubt not that in other worlds above + There must be other offices of love, + That other tasks and ministries there are, + Since it is promised that His servants, there, + Shall serve Him still."--TRENCH. + +[4] For instance, we may assume that in two or three hundred years, by +the improvement of telescopes, or by other means, it may be ascertained +that the other planets of the Solar System are not inhabited, and that +the other Stars are not the centres of regular systems. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE FUTURE. + + +1. We proceed then to a few reflections to which we cannot but feel +ourselves invited by the views which we have already presented in these +pages. What will be the future history of the human race, and what the +future destination of each individual, most persons will, and most +wisely, judge on far other grounds than the analogies which physical +science can supply. Analogies derived from such a quarter can throw +little light on those grave and lofty questions. Yet perhaps a few +thoughts on this subject, even if they serve only to show how little the +light thus attainable really is, may not be an unfit conclusion to what +has been said; and the more so, if these analogies of science, so far as +they have any specific tendency, tend to confirm some of the +convictions, with regard to those weighty and solemn points,--the +destiny of Man, and of Mankind,--which we derive from other and higher +sources of knowledge. + +2. Man is capable of looking back upon the past history of himself, his +Race, the Earth, and the Universe. So far as he has the means of doing +so, and so far as his reflective powers are unfolded, he cannot refrain +from such a retrospect. As we have seen, man has occupied his thoughts +with such contemplations, and has been led to convictions thereupon, of +the most remarkable and striking kind. Man is also capable of looking +forwards to the future probable or possible history of himself, his +race, the earth, and the universe. He is irresistibly tempted to do +this, and to endeavor to shape his conjectures on the Future, by what he +knows of the Past. He attempts to discern what future change and +progress may be imagined or expected, by the analogy of past change and +progress, which have been ascertained. Such analogies may be necessarily +very vague and loose; but they are the peculiar ground of speculation, +with which we have here to deal. Perhaps man cannot discover with +certainty any fixed and permanent laws which have regulated those past +changes which have modified the surface and population of the earth; +still less, any laws which have produced a visible progression in the +constitution of the rest of the universe. He cannot, therefore, avail +himself of any close analogies, to help him to conjecture the future +course of events, on the earth or in the universe; still less can he +apply any known laws, which may enable him to predict the future +configurations of the elements of the world; as he can predict the +future configurations of the planets for indefinite periods. He can +foresee the astronomical revolutions of the heavens, so long as the +known laws subsist. He cannot foresee the future geological revolutions +of the earth, even if they are to be produced by the same causes which +have produced the past revolutions, of which he has learnt the series +and order. Still less can he foresee the future revolutions which may +take place in the condition of man, of society, of philosophy, of +religion; still less, again, the course which the Divine Government of +the world will take, or the state of things to which, even as now +conducted, it will lead. + +3. All these subjects are covered with a veil of mystery, which science +and philosophy can do little in raising. Yet these are subjects to +which the mind turns, with a far more eager curiosity, than that which +it feels with regard to mere geological or astronomical revolutions. Man +is naturally, and reasonably, the greatest object of interest to man. +What shall happen to the human race, after thousands of years, is a far +dearer concern to him, than what shall happen to Jupiter or Sirius; and +even, than what shall happen to the continents and oceans of the globe +on which he lives, except so far as the changes of his domicile affect +himself. If our knowledge of the earth and of the heavens, of animals +and of man, of the past condition and present laws of the world, is +quite barren of all suggestion of what may or may not hereafter be the +lot of man, such knowledge will lose the charm which would have made it +most precious and attractive in the eyes of mankind in general. And if, +on such subjects, any conjectures, however dubious,--any analogies, +however loose,--can be collected from what we know, they will probably +be received as acceptable, in spite of their insecurity; and will be +deemed a fit offering from the scientific faculty, to those hopes and +expectations,--to that curiosity and desire of all knowledge,--which +gladly receive their nutriment and gratification from every province of +man's being. + +4. Now if we ask, what is likely to be the future condition of the +population of the earth as compared with the present; we are naturally +led to recollect, what has been the past condition of that population as +compared with the present. And here, our thoughts are at once struck by +that great fact, to which we have so often referred; which we conceive +to be established by irrefragable geological evidence, and of which the +importance cannot be overrated:--namely, the fact that the existence of +man upon the earth has been for only a few thousand years:--that for +thousands, and myriads, and it may be for millions of years, previous +to that period, the earth was tenanted, entirely and solely, by brute +creatures, destitute of reason, incapable of progress, and guided merely +by animal instincts, in the preservation and continuation of their +races. After this period of mere brute existence, in innumerable forms, +had endured for a vast series of cycles, there appeared upon the earth a +creature, even in his organization, superior far to all; but still more +superior, in his possession of peculiar endowments;--reason, language, +the power of indefinite progress, and of raising his thoughts towards +his Creator and Governor: in short, to use terms already employed, an +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual creature. After the ages +of intellectual darkness, there took place this creation of intellectual +light. After the long-continued play of mere appetite and sensual life, +there came the operation of thought, reflection, invention, art, +science, moral sentiments, religious belief and hope; and thus, life and +being, in a far higher sense than had ever existed, even in the highest +degree, in the long ages of the earth's previous existence. + +5. Now, this great and capital fact cannot fail to excite in us many +reflections, which, however vaguely and dimly, carry us to the prospect +of the future. The present being _so_ related to the past, how may we +suppose that the future will be related to the present? + +In the first place, _this_ is a natural reflection. The terrestrial +world having made this advance from brute to human life, can we think it +at all likely, that the present condition of the earth's inhabitants is +a final condition? Has the vast step from animal to human life, +exhausted the progressive powers of nature? or to speak more reverently +and justly, has it completed the progressive plan of the Creator? After +the great revolution by which man became what he is, can and will +nothing be done, to bring into being something better than now is; +however that future creature may be related to man? We leave out of +consideration any supposed progression, which may have taken place in +the animal creation previous to man's existence; any progression by +which the animal organization was made to approximate, gradually or by +sudden steps, to the human organization; partly, because such successive +approximation is questioned by some geologists; and is, at any rate, +obscure and perplexed: but much more, because it is not really to our +purpose. Similarity of organization is not the point in question. The +endowments and capacities of man, by which he is Man, are the great +distinction, which places all other animals at an immeasurable distance +below him. The closest approximation of form or organs, does nothing to +obliterate this distinction. It does not bring the monkey nearer to man, +that his tongue has the same muscular apparatus as man's, so long as he +cannot talk; and so long as he has not the thought and idea which +language implies, and which are unfolded indefinitely in the use of +language. The step, then, by which the earth became, a _human_ +habitation, was an immeasurable advance on all that existed before; and +therefore there is a question which we are, it seems, irresistibly +prompted to ask, Is this the last such step? Is there nothing beyond it? +Man is the head of creation, in his present condition; but is that +condition the final result and ultimate goal of the progress of creation +in the plan of the Creator? As there was found and produced something so +far beyond animals, as man is, may there not also, in some course of the +revolutions of the world, be produced something far beyond what man is? +The question is put, as implying a difficulty in believing that it +should be so; and this difficulty must be very generally felt. +Considering how vast the resources of the Creative Power have been shown +to be, it is difficult to suppose they are exhausted. Considering how +great things have been done, in the progress of the work of creation, we +naturally think that even greater things than these, still remain to be +done. + +6. But then, on the other hand, there is an immense difficulty in +supposing, even in imagining, any further change, at all commensurate in +kind and degree, with the step which carried the world from a mere brute +population, to a human population. In a proportion in which the two +first terms are _brute_ and _man_, what can be the third term? In the +progress from mere Instinct to Reason, we have a progress from blindness +to sight; and what can we do more than see? When pure Intellect is +evolved in man, he approaches to the nature of the Supreme Mind: how can +a creature rise higher? When mere impulse, appetite, and passion are +placed under the control and direction of duty and virtue, man is put +under Divine Government: what greater lot can any created being have? + +7. And the difficulty of conceiving any ulterior step at all analogous +to the last and most wonderful of the revolutions which have taken place +in the condition of the earth's inhabitants, will be found to grow upon +us, as it is more closely examined. For it may truly be said, the change +which occurred when man was placed on the earth, was not one which could +have been imagined and constructed beforehand, by a speculator merely +looking at the endowments and capacities of the creatures which were +previously living. Even in the way of organization, could any +intelligent spectator, contemplating anything which then existed in the +animal world, have guessed the wonderful new and powerful purposes to +which it was to be made subservient in man? Could such a spectator, from +seeing the _rudiments of a Hand_, in the horse or the cow, or even from +seeing the hand of a quadrumanous animal, have conjectured, that the +Hand was, in man, to be made an instrument by which infinite numbers of +new instruments were to be constructed, subduing the elements to man's +uses, giving him a command over nature which might seem supernatural, +taming or conquering all other animals, enabling him to scrutinize the +farthest regions of the universe, and the subtlest combinations of +material things? + +8. Or again; could such a spectator, by dissecting the tongues of +animals, have divined that the Tongue, in man, was to be the means of +communicating the finest movements of thought and feeling; of giving one +man, weak and feeble, an unbounded ascendency over robust and angry +multitudes; and, assisted by the (writing) hand, of influencing the +intimate thoughts, laws, and habits of the most remote posterity? + +9. And again, could such a spectator, seeing animals entirely occupied +by their appetites and desires, and the objects subservient to their +individual gratification, have ever dreamt that there should appear on +earth a creature who should desire to know, and should know, the +distances and motions of the stars, future as well as present; the +causes of their motions, the history of the earth, and his own history; +and even should know truths by which all possible objects and events not +only are, but must be regulated? + +10. And yet again, could such a spectator, seeing that animals obeyed +their appetites with no restraint but external fear, and knew of no +difference of good and bad except the sensual difference, ever have +imagined that there should be a creature acknowledging a difference of +right and wrong, as a distinction supreme over what was good or bad to +the sense; and a rule of duty which might forbid and prevent +gratification by an internal prohibition? + +11. And finally, could such a spectator, seeing nothing but animals +with all their faculties thus entirely immersed in the elements of their +bodily being, have supposed that a creature should come, who should +raise his thoughts to his Creator, acknowledge Him as his Master and +Governor, look to His Judgment, and aspire to live eternally in His +presence? + +12. If it would have been impossible for a spectator of the præhuman +creation, however intelligent, imaginative, bold and inventive, to have +conjectured beforehand the endowments of such a creature as Man, taking +only those which we have thus indicated; it may well be thought, that if +there is to be a creature which is to succeed man, as man has succeeded +the animals, it must be equally impossible for us to conjecture +beforehand, what kind of creature _that_ must be, and what will be _his_ +endowments and privileges. + +13. Thus a spectator who should thus have studied the præhuman creation, +and who should have had nothing else to help him in his conjectures and +conceptions, (of course, by the supposition of a præhuman period, not +any knowledge of the operation of intelligence, though a most active +intelligence would be necessary for such speculations,) would not have +been able to divine the future appearance of a creature, so excellent as +Man; or to guess at his endowments and privileges, or his relation to +the previous animal creation; and just as little able may we be, even if +there is to exist at some time, a creature more excellent and glorious +than man, to divine what kind of creature he will be, and how related to +man. And here, therefore, it would perhaps be best, that we should quit +the subject; and not offer conjectures which we thus acknowledge to have +no value. Perhaps, however, the few brief remarks which we have still to +make, put forwards, as they are, merely as suggestions to be weighed by +others, can not reasonably give offence, or trouble even the most +reverent thinker. + +14. To suppose a higher development of endowments which already exist in +man, is a natural mode of rising to the imagination of a being nobler +than man is; but we shall find that such hypotheses do not lead us to +any satisfactory result. Looking at the first of those features of the +superiority of man over brutes, which we have just pointed out, the +Human Hand, we can imagine this superiority carried further. Indeed, in +the course of human progress, and especially in recent times, and in our +own country, man employs instead of, or in addition to the hand, +innumerable instruments to make nature serve his needs and do his will. +He works by Tools and Machinery, derivative hands, which increase a +hundred-fold the power of the natural hand. Shall we try to ascend to a +New Period, to imagine a New Creature, by supposing this power increased +hundreds and thousands of times more, so that nature should obey man, +and minister to his needs, in an incomparably greater degree than she +now does? We may imagine this carried so far, that all need for manual +labor shall be superseded; and thus, abundant time shall be left to the +creature thus gifted, for developing the intellectual and moral powers +which must be the higher part of its nature. But still, that higher +nature of the creature itself, and not its command over external +material nature, must be the quarter in which we are to find anything +which shall elevate the creature above man, as man is elevated above +brutes. + +15. Or, looking at the second of the features of human superiority, +shall we suppose that the means of Communication of their thoughts to +each other, which exist for the human race, are to be immensely +increased, and that this is to be the leading feature of a New Period? +Already, in addition to the use of the tongue, other means of +communication have vastly multiplied man's original means of carrying on +the intercourse of thought:--writing, employed in epistles, books, +newspapers; roads, horses and posting establishments; ships; railways; +and, as the last and most notable step, made in our time, electric +telegraphs, extending across continents and even oceans. We can imagine +this facility and activity of communication, in which man so +immeasurably exceeds all animals, still further increased, and more +widely extended. But yet so long as what is thus communicated is nothing +greater or better than what is now communicated among men;--such news, +such thoughts, such questions and answers, as now dart along our +roads;--we could hardly think that the creature, whatever wonderful +means of intercourse with its fellow-creatures it might possess, was +elevated above man, so as to be of a higher nature than man is. + +16. Thus, such improved endowments as we have now spoken of, increased +power over materials, and increased means of motion and communication, +arising from improved mechanism, do little, and we may say, nothing, to +satisfy our idea of a more excellent condition than that of man. For +such extensions of man's present powers are consistent with the absence +of all intellectual and moral improvement. Men might be able to dart +from place to place, and even from planet to planet, and from star to +star, on wings, such as we ascribe to angels in our imagination: they +might be able to make the elements obey them at a beck; and yet they +might not be better, nor even wiser, than they are. It is not found +generally, that the improvement of machinery, and of means of +locomotion, among men, produces an improvement in morality, nor even an +improvement in intelligence, except as to particular points. We must +therefore look somewhat further, in order to find possible characters, +which may enable us to imagine a creature more excellent than man. + +17. Among the distinctions which elevate man above brutes, there is one +which we have not mentioned, but which is really one of the most +eminent. We mean, his faculty and habit of forming himself into +Societies, united by laws and language for some common object, the +furtherance of which requires such union. The most general and primary +kind of such societies, is that Civil Society which is bound together by +Law and Government, and which secures to men the Rights of property, +person, family, external peace, and the like. That this kind of society +may be conceived, as taking a more excellent character than it now +possesses, we can easily see: for not only does it often very +imperfectly attain its direct object, the preservation of Rights, but it +becomes the means and source of wrong. Not only does it often fail to +secure peace with strangers, but it acts as if its main object were to +enable men to make wars with strangers. If we were to conceive a +Universal and Perpetual Peace to be established among the nations of the +earth; (for instance by some general agreement for that purpose;) and if +we were to suppose, further, that those nations should employ all their +powers and means in fully unfolding the intellectual and moral +capacities of their members, by early education, constant teaching, and +ready help in all ways; we might then, perhaps, look forwards to a state +of the earth in which it should be inhabited, not indeed by a being +exalted above Man, but by Man exalted above himself as he now is. + +18. That by such combinations of communities of men, even with their +present powers, results may be obtained, which at present appear +impossible, or inconceivable, we may find good reason to believe; +looking at what has already been done, or planned as attainable by such +means, in the promotion of knowledge, and the extension of man's +intellectual empire. The greatest discovery ever made, the discovery, by +Newton, of the laws which regulate the motions of the cosmical system, +has been earned to its present state of completeness, only by the united +efforts of all the most intellectual nations upon earth; in addition to +vast labors of individuals, and of smaller societies, voluntarily +associated for the purpose. Astronomical observatories have been +established in every land; scientific voyages, and expeditions for the +purpose of observation, wherever they could throw light upon the theory, +have been sent forth; costly instruments have been constructed, +achievements of discovery have been rewarded; and all nations have shown +a ready sympathy with every attempt to forward this part of knowledge. +Yet the largest and wisest plans for the extension of human knowledge in +other provinces of science by the like means, have remained hitherto +almost entirely unexecuted, and have been treated as mere dreams. The +exhortations of Francis Bacon to men, to seek, by such means, an +elevation of their intellectual condition, have been assented to in +words; but his plans of a methodical and organized combination of +society for this purpose, it has never been even attempted to realize. +If the nations of the earth were to employ, for the promotion of human +knowledge, a small fraction only of the means, the wealth, the +ingenuity, the energy, the combination, which they have employed in +every age, for the destruction of human life and of human means of +enjoyment; we might soon find that what we hitherto knew, is little +compared with what man has the power of knowing. + +19. But there is another kind of Society, or another object of Society +among men, which in a still more important manner aims at the elevation +of their nature. Man sympathizes with man, not only in his intellectual +aspirations, but in his moral sentiments, in his religious beliefs and +hopes, in his efforts after spiritual life. Society, even Civil Society, +has generally recognized this sympathy, in a greater or less degree; and +has included Morality and Religion, among the objects which it +endeavored to uphold and promote. But any one who has any deep and +comprehensive perception of man's capacities and aspirations, on such +subjects, must feel that what has commonly, or indeed ever, been done by +nations for such a purpose, has been far below that which the full +development of man's moral, religious, and spiritual nature requires. +Can we not conceive a Society among men, which should have for its +purpose, to promote this development, far more than any human society +has yet done?--a Body selected from all nations, or rather, including +all nations, the purpose of which should be to bind men together by a +universal feeling of kindness and mutual regard, to associate them in +the acknowledgment of a common Divine Lawgiver, Governor, and +Father;--to unite them in their efforts to divest themselves of the evil +of their human nature, and to bring themselves nearer and nearer to a +conformity with the Divine Idea; and finally, a Society which should +unite them in the hope of such a union with God that the parts of their +nature which seem to claim immortality, the Mind, the Soul, and the +Spirit, should endure forever in a state of happiness arising from their +exalted and perfected condition? And if we can suppose such a Society; +fully established and fully operative, would not this be a condition, as +far elevated above the ordinary earthly condition of man, as that of man +is elevated above the beasts that perish? + +20. Yet one more question; though we hesitate to mix such suggestions +from analogy, with trains of thought and belief, which have their proper +nutriment from other quarters. We know, even from the evidence of +natural science, that God _has_ interposed in the history of this Earth, +in order to place Man upon it. In that case, there was a clear, and, in +the strongest sense of the term, a _supernatural interposition_ of the +Divine Creative Power. God interposed to place upon the earth, Man, the +social and rational being. God thus directly instituted Human Society; +gave man his privileges and his prospects in such society; placed him +far above the previously existing creation; and endowed him with the +means of an elevation of nature entirely unlike anything which had +previously appeared. Would it then be a violation of analogy, if God +were to interpose again, to institute a Divine Society, such as we have +attempted to describe; to give to its members their privileges; to +assure to them their prospects; to supply to them his aid in pursuing +the objects of such a union with each other; and thus, to draw them, as +they aspire to be drawn, to a spiritual union with Him? + +It would seem that those who believe, as the records of the earth's +history seem to show, that the establishment of Man, and of Human +Society, or of the germ of human society, upon the earth, was an +interposition of Creative Power beyond the ordinary course of nature; +may also readily believe that another supernatural Interposition of +Divine Power might take place, in order to plant upon the earth the Germ +of a more Divine Society; and to introduce a period in which the earth +should be tenanted by a more excellent creature than at present. + +21. But though we may thus prepare ourselves to assent to the +possibility, or even probability, of such a Divine Interposition, +exercised for the purpose of establishing upon earth a Divine Society: +it would be a rash and unauthorized step,--especially taking into +account the vast differences between material and spiritual things,--to +assume that such an Interposition would have any resemblance to the +commencement of a New Period in the earth's history, analogous to the +Periods by which that history has already been marked. What the manner +and the operation of such a Divine Interposition would be, Philosophy +would attempt in vain to conjecture. It is conceivable that such an +event should produce its effect, not at once, by a general and +simultaneous change in the aspect of terrestrial things, but gradually, +by an almost imperceptible progression. It is possible also that there +may be such an Interposition, which is only one step in the Divine +Plan;--a preparation for some other subsequent Interposition, by which +the change in the Earth's inhabitants is to be consummated. Or it is +possible that such a Divine Interposition in the history of man, as we +have hinted at, may be a preparation, not for a new form of terrestrial +life, but for a new form of human life;--not for a new peopling of the +Earth, but for a new existence of Man. These possibilities are so vague +and doubtful, so far as any scientific analogies lead, that it would be +most unwise to attempt to claim for them any value, as points in which +Science supplies support to Religion. Those persons who most deeply feel +the value of religion, and are most strongly convinced of its truths, +will be the most willing to declare, that religious belief is, and ought +to be, independent of any such support, and must be, and may be, firmly +established on its own proper basis. + +22. We find no encouragement, then, for any attempt to obtain, from +Science, by the light of the analogy of the past, any definite view of a +future condition of the Creation. And that this is so, we cannot, for +reasons which have been given, feel any surprise. Yet the reasonings +which we have, in various parts of this Essay, pursued, will not have +been without profit, even in their influence upon our religious +thoughts, if they have left upon our minds these convictions:--That if +the analogy of science proves anything, it proves that the Creator of +man can make a Creator as far superior to Man, as Man, when most +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual, is superior to the +brutes:--and again, That Man's Intellect is of a divine, and therefore +of an immortal nature. Those persons who can, on any basis of belief, +combine these two convictions, so as to feel that they have a personal +interest in both of them;--those who have such grounds as Religion, +happily appealed to, can furnish, for hoping that their imperishable +element may, hereafter, be clothed with a new and more glorious apparel +by the hand of its Almighty Maker;--may be well content to acknowledge +that Science and Philosophy could not give them this combined +conviction, in any manner in which it could minister that consolation, +and that trust in the Divine Power and Goodness, which human nature, in +its present condition, requires. + + +THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes. + + +Spelling irregularities where there was no obviously preferred version +were left as is. Variants include: "embedded" and "imbedded;" "a +hypothesis" and "an hypothesis;" "inexhausted" and "unexhausted;" +"volcanos" and "volcanoes." + +Changed "intelligencies" to "intelligences" on page xvi: "may be +rational intelligences." + +Changed "familar" to "familiar" on page 43: "had been familiar." + +Changed "Chalmer's" to "Chalmers'" on page 67: "Chalmers' reasonings." + +Inserted missing period after "live in the sea" on page 78. + +Changed "disapear" to "disappear" on page 82: "at last they disappear." + +Changed "natturally" to "naturally" on page 84: "we may naturally ask." + +Changed "planets" to "plants" on page 91: "plants and animals." + +Changed "intelligenee" to "intelligence" on page 125: "intelligence, +morality, religion." + +Changed "crystaline" to "crystalline" on page 126: "of crystalline +powers." + +Changed "dissimiliar" to "dissimilar" on page 128: "perpetually +dissimilar." + +Changed "words" to "worlds" on page 135: "plurality of worlds." + +Changed "insignificent" to "insignificant" on page 151: "insignificant +and insensible." + +Changed "tales" to "tails" on page 170: "tails of comets." + +Changed "Chambers'" to "Chalmers'" in the footnote on page 175: +"Chalmers' Astron. Disc." + +In the footnote on page 177, "the times of the warning" might be a +typographic error for "the times of the waning," but was not changed. + +Changed "disaprove" to "disprove" on page 185: "prove or disprove." + +Changed "one-thirteenth" to "one-thirtieth" on page 194: "be +one-thirtieth as large." + +Changed "skeletous" to "skeletons" on page 208: "Can they have +skeletons." + +In the footnote from page 217, "Schroeter" appears with the oe-ligature; +elsewhere it does not. The ligature was replaced by the two separate +characters in the footnote. + +Changed "how-however" to "however" in the footnote from page 233: "This, +however." + +Changed "hisorians" to "historians" on page 253: "natural-historians." + +Changed "Meaning" to "meaning" at the beginning of page 261, since it's +not a new sentence. + +Changed "crystalizes" to "crystallizes" and "crystaline" to +"crystalline" on page 265: "Ice crystallizes;" "crystalline aggregation." + +Changed "Artic" to "Arctic" in the footnote from page 265: "Account of +the Arctic Regions." + +Changed "kingdon" to "kingdom" on page 267: "the animal kingdom." + +Changed "splendour" to "splendor" on page 273: "the material splendor." + +Changed "hightest" to "highest" on page 295: "the highest degree." + +Changed "deely" to "deeply" on page 305: "who most deeply feel." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Plurality of Worlds, by +William Whewell and Edward Hitchcock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS *** + +***** This file should be named 36288-8.txt or 36288-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/2/8/36288/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Plurality of Worlds + +Author: William Whewell + Edward Hitchcock + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [EBook #36288] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen H. Sentoff and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="FRONTISPIECE" id="FRONTISPIECE"></a><img src="images/front1.jpg" alt="" /><br /> +51 Messier</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="margin-top:1.5em;"><img src="images/front2.jpg" alt="" /><br /> +99 Messier</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h1>THE<br /> +PLURALITY OF WORLDS. +</h1> + +<table><tr><td align="center"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">On Nature's Alps I stand,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And see a thousand firmaments beneath!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A thousand systems, as a thousand grains!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So much a stranger, <i>and so late arrived</i>,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How shall man's curious spirit not inquire<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What are the natives of this world sublime,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of this so distant, unterrestrial sphere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where mortal, untranslated, never strayed?<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 20em;">NIGHT THOUGHTS.</span><br /> +</p> +</td></tr></table> + +<div class="likeheading2">WITH AN INTRODUCTION<br /> +<span style="font-size:smaller;">BY</span><br /> +EDWARD HITCHCOCK, D.D.,<br /> +<span style="font-size:smaller;">PRESIDENT OF AMHERST COLLEGE, AND PROFESSOR OF<br /> +THEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY.</span></div> + + +<p class="center"> +BOSTON:<br /> +GOULD AND LINCOLN,<br /> +50 WASHINGTON STREET.<br /> + +1854. +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p class="center"> +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by<br /> +GOULD AND LINCOLN,<br /> +In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of +the District of Massachusetts. +</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>Although the opinions presented in the following Essay are put forwards +without claiming for them any value beyond what they may derive from the +arguments there offered, they are not published without some fear of +giving offence. It will be a curious, but not a very wonderful event, if +it should now be deemed as blamable to doubt the existence of +inhabitants of the Planets and Stars, as, three centuries ago, it was +held heretical to teach that doctrine. Yet probably there are many who +will be willing to see the question examined by all the light which +modern science can throw upon it; and such an examination can be +undertaken to no purpose, except the view which has of late been +generally rejected have the arguments in its favor fairly stated and +candidly considered.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p><p>Though Revealed Religion contains no doctrine relative to the +inhabitants of planets and stars; and though, till within the last three +centuries, no Christian thinker deemed such a doctrine to be required, +in order to complete our view of the attributes of the Creator; yet it +is possible that at the present day, when the assumption of such +inhabitants is very generally made and assented to, many persons have so +mingled this assumption with their religious belief, that they regard it +as an essential part of Natural Religion. If any such persons find their +religious convictions interfered with, and their consolatory impressions +disturbed, by what is said in this Essay, the Author will deeply regret +to have had any share in troubling any current of pious thought +belonging to the time. But, as some excuse, it may be recollected, that +if such considerations had prevailed, this very doctrine, of the +Plurality of Worlds, would never have been publicly maintained. And if +such considerations are to have weight, it must be recollected, on the +other hand, that there are many persons to whom the assumption of an +endless multitude of Worlds appears difficult to reconcile with the +belief of that which, as the Christian Revelation teaches us, has been +done for this our World of Earth. In this conflict of religious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span>difficulties, on a point which rather belongs to science than to +religion, perhaps philosophical arguments may be patiently listened to, +if urged as arguments merely; and in that hope, they are here stated, +without reserve and without exaggeration.</p> + +<p>All speculations on subjects in which Science and Religion bear upon +each other, are liable to one of the two opposite charges;—that the +speculator sets Philosophy and Religion at variance; or that he warps +Philosophy into a conformity with Religion. It is confidently hoped that +no candid reader will bring either of these charges against the present +Essay. With regard to the latter, the arguments must speak for +themselves. To the Author at least, they appear to be of no small +philosophical force; though he is quite ready to weigh carefully and +candidly any answers which may be offered to them. With regard to the +amount of agreement between our Philosophy and Religion, it may perhaps +be permitted to the Author to say, that while it appears to him that +some of his philosophical conclusions fall in very remarkably with +certain points of religious doctrine, he is well aware that Philosophy +alone can do little in providing man with the consolations, hopes, +supports, and convictions which Religion offers; and he acknowledges it +as a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>ground of deep gratitude to the Author of all good, that man is +not left to Philosophy for those blessings; but has a fuller assurance +of them, by a more direct communication from Him.</p> + +<p>Perhaps, too, the Author may be allowed to say, that he has tried to +give to the book, not only a moral, but a scientific interest; by +collecting his scientific facts from the best authorities, and the most +recent discoveries. He would flatter himself, in particular, that the +view of the Nebulæ and of the Solar System, which he has here given, may +be not unworthy of some attention on the part of astronomers and +observers, as an occasion of future researches in the skies.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS<br /> +OF<br /> +THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS. +</h2> + + + + +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right"><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#INTRODUCTION"><span class="smcap">Introduction.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_ix">9</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER I.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">Astronomical Discoveries.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER II.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">Astronomical Objection to Religion.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER III.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">The Answer from the Microscope.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER IV.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">Further Statement of the Difficulty.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER V.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">Geology.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span><br />CHAPTER VI.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">The Argument from Geology.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER VII.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">The Nebulæ.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER VIII.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">The Fixed Stars.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER IX.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">The Planets.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER X.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Theory of the Solar System.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER XI.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><span class="smcap">The Argument from Design.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER XII.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">The Unity of the World.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><br />CHAPTER XIII.</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">The Future.</span></a></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_292">292</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTORY NOTICE<br /> +TO THE<br /> +AMERICAN EDITION. +</h2> + + +<p>It is an interesting feature in the literature of our day, that so many +minds are turning their attention to the bearings of science upon +religion. With a few honorable exceptions, Christian scholars have +regarded this as a most unpromising field, which they have left to the +tilting and gladiatorship of scepticism. But we owe it mainly to the +disclosures of geology, that the tables are beginning to be turned. For +a long time suspected of being in league with infidelity, it was treated +as an enemy, and Christians thought only of fortifying themselves +against its attacks. But they are finding out, that if this science has +been seen in the enemy's camp, it was only because of their jealousy +that it was compelled to remain there; like captives that are sometimes +pushed forwards to cover the front rank and receive the fire of their +friends. Judging from the number of works, some of them very able, that +appear almost monthly from the press, in which illustrations <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span>of +religion are drawn from geology, we may infer that this science is +beginning to be recognized by the friends of religion as an efficient +auxiliary.</p> + +<p>"The Plurality of Worlds," now republished, is the most recent work of +this description that has fallen under our notice. We can see no reason +why an Essay of so much ability, in which the reasoning is so +dispassionate, and opponents are treated so candidly, should appear +anonymously. True, the author takes ground against some opinions widely +maintained respecting the extent of the inhabited universe, and seems to +suppose that he shall meet with little sympathy; and this may be his +reason, though in our view quite insufficient, for remaining incognito. +We think he will find that there are a secret seven thousand, who never +have bowed their understandings to a belief of many of the doctrines +which he combats, and he might reasonably calculate that his reasoning +will add seven thousand more to the number. We confess, however, that +though we have long been of this number to a certain extent, we cannot +go as far as this writer has done in his conclusions.</p> + +<p>All the world is acquainted with Dr. Chalmers' splendid Astronomical +Discourses. Assuming, or rather supposing that he has proved, that the +universe contains a vast number of worlds peopled like our own, he +imagines the infidel to raise an objection to the mission of the Son of +God, on the ground that this world is too insignificant to receive such +an extraordinary <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span>interposition. His replies to this objection, drawn +chiefly from our ignorance, are ingenious and convincing. But the author +of the Plurality of Worlds doubts the premises on which the objection is +founded. He thinks the facts of science will not sustain the conclusion +that many of the heavenly bodies are inhabited; certainly not with moral +and intellectual beings like man. Nay, by making his appeal to geology, +he thinks the evidence strong against such an opinion. This science +shows us that this world was once certainly in a molten state, and very +probably, at a still earlier date, may have been dissipated into +self-luminous vapor, like the nebulæ or the comets. Immense periods, +then, must have passed before any organic structures, such as have since +peopled the earth, could have existed. And during the vast cycles that +have elapsed since the first animals and plants appeared upon the globe, +it was not in a proper condition to have sustained any other than the +inferior races. Accordingly, it has been only a few thousand years since +man appeared.</p> + +<p>Now, so far as astronomy has revealed the condition of other worlds, +almost all of them appear to be passing through those preparatory +changes which the earth underwent previous to man's creation. What are +the unresolvable nebulæ and most of the comets also, but intensely +heated vapor and gas? What is the sun but a molten globe, or perhaps +gaseous matter condensed so as to possess almost the density of water? +The planets beyond Mars, also, (excluding the asteroids,) appear to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span>be +in a liquid condition, but not from heat, and therefore may be composed +of water, or some fluid perhaps lighter than water; or at least be +covered by such fluid. Moreover, so great is their distance from the +sun, that his light and heat could not sustain organic beings such as +exist upon the earth. Of the inferior planets, Mercury is so near the +sun that it would be equally unfit for the residence of such beings. +Mars, Venus, and the Moon, then, appear to be the only worlds known to +us capable of sustaining a population at all analogous to that upon +earth. But of these, the Moon appears to be merely a mass of +extinguished volcanos, with neither water nor atmosphere. It has +proceeded farther in the process of refrigeration than the earth, +because it is smaller; and in its present state, is manifestly unfit for +the residence either of rational or irrational creatures. So that we are +left with only Mars and Venus in the solar system to which the common +arguments in favor of other worlds being inhabited, will apply.</p> + +<p>But are not the fixed stars the suns of other systems? We will thank +those who think so, to read the chapter in this work that treats of the +fixed stars, and we presume they will be satisfied that at least many of +these bodies exhibit characters quite irreconcilable with such an +hypothesis. And if some are not central suns, the presumption that the +rest are, is weakened, and we must wait till a greater perfection of +instruments shall afford us some positive evidence, before we know +whether our solar system is a type of any others.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></p><p>Thus far, it seems to us, our author has firm ground, both geological +and astronomical, to stand upon. But he does not stop here. He takes the +position that probably our earth may be the only body in the solar +system, nay in the universe, where an intellectual, moral and immortal +being, like man, has an existence. He makes the "earth the domestic +hearth of the solar system; adjusted between the hot and fiery haze on +one side, and the cold and watery vapor on the other: the only fit +region to be a domestic hearth, a seat of habitation." He says that "it +is quite agreeable to analogy that the solar system should have borne +but one fertile flower. And even if any number of the fixed stars were +also found to be barren flowers of the sky, we need not think the powers +of creation wasted, or frustrated, thrown away, or perverted." He does +not deny that some other worlds may be the abodes of plants and animals +such as peopled this earth during the long ages of preadamic history. +But he regards the creation of man as the great event of our world. He +looks upon the space between man and the highest of the irrational +creatures, as a vast one: for though in physical structure they approach +one another, in intellectual and moral powers they cannot be compared. +He does not think it derogatory to Divine Wisdom to have created and +arranged all the other bodies of the universe to give convenience and +elegance to the abode of such a being; especially since this was to be +the theatre of the work of redemption.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></p><p>Now we sympathize strongly in views that give dignity and exaltation to +man, and not at all with that debasing philosophy, so common at this +day, that looks upon him as little more than a somewhat improved orang. +But we cannot admit that man is the only exalted created being to be +found among the vast array of worlds around us. Geology does, indeed, +teach us, that it is no disparagement of Divine Wisdom and benevolence +to make a world—and if one, why not many—the residence of inferior +creatures; nay to leave it without inhabitants through untold ages. But +it also shows us, that when such worlds have passed through these +preparatory changes, rational and immortal beings may be placed upon +them. Nay, does not the history of our world show us that this seems to +be the grand object of such vast periods of preparation. And is it not +incredible, that amid the countless bodies of the universe, a single +globe only, and that a small one, should have reached the condition +adapted to the residence of beings made in the image of God? Of what +possible use to man are those numberless worlds visible only through the +most powerful telescopes? Surely such a view gives us a very narrow idea +of the plans and purposes of Jehovah, and one not sustained in our +opinion by the analogies of science.</p> + +<p>There is another principle to which our author attaches, as we think, +too little importance in this connection. When we see how vast is the +variety of organic beings on this globe, and how manifold the conditions +of their existence; how exactly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span>adapted they are to the solid, the +liquid, and the gaseous states of matter, can we doubt that rational and +intelligent beings may be adapted to physical conditions in other worlds +widely diverse from those on this globe? May not spirits be connected +with bodies much heavier, or much lighter, than on earth; nay, with mere +tenuous ether; and those bodies, perhaps, be better adapted to the play +of intellect than ours; and be unaffected by temperatures which, on +earth, would be fatal? It does seem to us that such conclusions are +legitimate inferences from the facts of science; and if so, we can +hardly avoid the conclusion that there may be races of intelligent +beings upon other worlds where the condition of things is widely +different from that on earth. Yet there is a limit to this principle; +and when we can prove another world to be in a similar condition to our +earth, when it was inhabited by preadamic races, or not at all +inhabited, the presumption is strong, that such a world has inhabitants +of a like character, or none at all.</p> + +<p>Our author makes but a slight allusion to some most important statements +of revelation, that seem to us to bear strongly upon the hypothesis +which he adopts. We refer to the existence of angels, holy and unholy. +In the history of the latter, we learn that <i>they kept not their first +estate, but left their own habitation</i>. Have we not here an example of +other rational creatures, more exalted than man, who, like him, have +fallen from their first estate; and does not the presumption hence +arise, that there may be similar examples in other <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span>worlds? And is there +not a probability, that holy angels now in heaven, may be rational +intelligences who have passed a successful probation in other worlds? It +does seem to us, that these biblical facts make the hypothesis of our +author respecting man extremely improbable.</p> + +<p>But though we must demur as to some of the views of this work, we can +cordially recommend its perusal to intelligent and reasoning minds. It +is an effort in the right direction, and we think will do much to +correct some false notions respecting the Plurality of Worlds. And even +the author's peculiar hypothetical views are sustained with much +ability. He states the facts of geology and astronomy with great +clearness and correctness, and seems quite familiar with mathematical +reasoning. Nor does he advance opinions that come into collision with +natural or revealed religion; though, as already stated, we think his +favorite notions narrow our conceptions of the Divine plans and +purposes. We predict for the work an extended circulation among +scientific men and theologians; and commend it with confidence to all +readers—and in our country they are numerous—who are fond of tracing +out the connection between science and religion.</p> + +<p style="margin-left:50%;"> +E. H.<br /> +<span class="smcap">Amherst College</span>, April, 1854. +</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> +<div class="likeheading1">THE<br /> +PLURALITY OF WORLDS. +</div> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class="center">ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES.</p> + + +<p>"When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the +stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of +him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"</p> + +<p>1. These striking words of the Hebrew Psalmist have been made, by an +eloquent and pious writer of our own time, the starting point of a +remarkable train of speculation. Dr. Chalmers, in his <i>Astronomical +Discourses</i>, has treated the reflection thus suggested, in connection +with such an aspect of the heavens and the stars, the earth and the +universe, as modern astronomy presents to us. Even from the point of +view in which the ancient Hebrew looked at the stars; seeing only their +number and splendor, their lofty position, and the vast space which they +visibly occupy in the sky; compared with the earth, which lies dark, and +mean, and perhaps small in extent, far beneath them, and on which man +has his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>habitation; it appeared wonderful, and scarcely credible, that +the maker of all that array of luminaries, the lord of that wide and +magnificent domain, should occupy himself with the concerns of men: and +yet, without a belief in His fatherly care and goodness to us, +thoughtful and religious persons, accustomed to turn their minds +constantly to a Supreme Governor and constant Benefactor, are left in a +desolate and bewildered state of feeling. The notion that while the +heavens are the work of God's fingers, the sun, moon, and stars ordained +by him, He is <i>not</i> mindful of man, does not regard him, does not visit +him, was not tolerable to the thought of the Psalmist. While we read, we +are sure that he believed that, however insignificant and mean man might +be, in comparison with the other works of God,—however difficult it +might seem to conceive, that he should be found worthy the regards and +the visits of the Creator of All,—yet that God <i>was</i> mindful of him, +and <i>did</i> visit him. The question, "What is man, that this is so?" +implies that there is an answer, whether man can discover it or not. +"<i>What</i> is man, that God is mindful of him?" indicates a belief, +unshaken, however much perplexed, that man is <i>something</i>, of such a +kind that God <i>is</i> mindful of him.</p> + +<p>2. But if there was room for this questioning, and cause for this +perplexity, to a contemplative person, who looked at the skies, with +that belief concerning the stars, which the ancient Hebrew possessed, +the question recurs with far greater force, and the perplexity is +immeasurably increased, by the knowledge, concerning the stars, which is +given to us by the discoveries of modern astronomy. The Jew probably +believed the earth to be a region, upon the whole, level, however +diversified with hills and valleys, and the skies to be a vault arched +over this level;—a firmament in which the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>moon and the stars were +placed. What magnitude to assign to this vault, he had no means of +knowing; and indeed, the very aspect of the nocturnal heavens, with the +multitude of stars, of various brightness, which come into view, one set +after another, as the light of day dies away, suggests rather the notion +of their being scattered through a vast depth of space, at various +distances, than of their being so many lights fastened to a single +vaulted surface. But however he might judge of this, he regarded them as +placed in a space, of which the earth was the central region. The host +of heaven all had reference to the earth. The sun and the moon were +there, in order to give light to it, by day and by night. And if the +stars had not that for their principal office, as indeed the amount of +light which they gave was not such as to encourage such a belief,—and +perhaps the perception, that the stars must have been created for some +other object than to give light to man, was one of the principal +circumstances which suggested the train of thought that we are now +considering;—yet still, the region of the stars had the earth for its +centre and base. Perhaps the Psalmist, at a subsequent period of his +contemplations, when he was pondering the reflections which he has +expressed in this passage, might have been led to think that the stars +were placed there in order to draw man's thoughts to the greatness of +the Creator of all things; to give some light to his mental, rather than +to his bodily eye; to show how far His mode of working transcends man's +faculties; to suggest that there are things in heaven, very different +from the things which are on earth. If he thought thus, he was only +following a train of thought on which contemplative minds, in all ages +and countries, have often dwelt; and which we cannot, even now, +pronounce to be either unfounded or exhausted; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>as we trust hereafter to +show. But whether or not this be so, we may be certain that the Psalmist +regarded the stars, as things having a reference to the earth, and yet +not resembling the earth; as works of God's fingers, very different from +the earth with its tribes of inhabitants; as luminaries, not worlds. In +the feeling of awe and perplexity, which made him ask, "What is man that +thou art mindful of him?" there was no mixture of a persuasion that +there were, in those luminaries, creatures, like man, the children and +subjects of God; and therefore, like man, requiring his care and +attention. In asking, "What is man, that thou visitest him?" there was +no latent comparison, to make the question imply, "that thou visitest +<i>him</i>, rather than those who dwell in those abodes?" It was the +multitude and magnificence of God's works, which made it seem strange +that he should care for a <i>thing</i> so small and mean as man; not the +supposed multitude of God's intelligent creatures inhabiting those +works, which made it seem strange that he should attend to every +<i>person</i> upon this earth. It was not that the Psalmist thought that, +among a multitude of earths, all peopled like this earth, man might seem +to be in danger of being overlooked and neglected by his Maker; but +that, there being only one earth, occupied by frail, feeble, sinful, +short-lived creatures, it might be unworthy the regards of Him who dwelt +in regions of eternal light and splendor, unsullied by frailty, +inaccessible to corruption.</p> + +<p>3. This, we can have no doubt, or something resembling this, was the +Psalmist's view, when he made the reflection, which we have taken as the +basis of our remarks. And even in this view, (which, after all that +science has done, is perhaps still the most natural and familiar,) the +reflection is extremely striking; and the words cannot be uttered +without finding an echo in the breast of every contemplative and +religious person. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>But this view is, as most readers at this time are +aware, very different from that presented to us by Modern Astronomy. The +discoveries made by astronomers are supposed by most persons to have +proved, or to have made it in the highest degree probable, that this +view of the earth, as the sole habitation of intelligent subjects of +God's government; and of the stars, as placed in a region of which the +earth is the centre, and yet differing in their nature from this lower +world; is altogether erroneous. According to astronomers, the earth is +not a level space, but a globe. Some of the stars which we see in the +vault of heaven, are globes, like it; some smaller than the earth, some +larger. There are reasons, drawn from analogy, for believing that these +globes, the other planets, are inhabited by living creatures, as the +earth is. The earth is not at rest, with the celestial luminaries +circulating above it, as the ancients believed, but itself moves in a +circle about the sun, in the course of every year; and the other planets +also move round the sun in like manner, in circles, some within and some +without that which the earth describes. This collection of planets, thus +circulating about the sun, is the <span class="smcap">Solar System</span>: of which the earth thus +forms a very small part. Jupiter and Saturn are much larger than the +earth. Mars and Venus are nearly as large. If these be inhabited, as the +Earth is, which the analogy of their form, movements and conditions, +seems to suggest, the population of the earth is a very small portion of +the population of the solar system. And if the mere number of the +subjects of God's government could produce any difficulty in the +application of his providence to them, a person to whom this view of the +world which we inhabit had been disclosed, might well, and with far more +reason than the Psalmist, exclaim, "Lord, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>what is man, that thou art +mindful of him? the inhabitants of this Earth, that thou regardest him?"</p> + +<p>4. But this is only the first step in the asserted revelations of +astronomy. Some of the stars are, as we have said, planets of the kind +just described. But these stars are a few only:—five, or at most six, +of those visible to the unassisted eye of man. All the rest, innumerable +as they appear, and numerous as they really are, are, it is found, +objects of another kind. They are not, as the planets are, opaque +globes, deriving their light from a sun, about which they circulate. +They shine by a light of their own. They are of the nature of the sun, +not of the planets. That they appear mere specks of light, arises from +their being at a vast distance from us. At a vast distance they +undoubtedly are; for even with our most powerful telescopes, they still +appear mere specks of light;—mere luminous points. They do not, as the +planets do, when seen through telescopes, exhibit to us a circular face +or disk, capable of being magnified and distinguished into parts and +features. But this impossibility of magnifying them by means of +telescopes, does not at all make us doubt that they may be far larger +than the planets. For we know, from other sources of information, that +their distance is immensely greater than that of any of the planets. We +can measure the bodies of the solar system;—the earth, by absolutely +going round a part of it, or in other ways; the other bodies of the +system, by comparing their positions, as seen from different parts of +the earth. In this manner we find that the earth is a globe 8,000 miles +in diameter. In this way, again, we find that the circle which the earth +describes round the sun has, in round numbers, a radius about 24,000 +times the earth's radius; that is, nearly a hundred millions of miles. +The earth is, at one time, a hundred millions of miles on one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>side of +the sun; and at another time, half a year afterwards, a hundred millions +of miles on the other side. Of the bright stars which shine by their own +light,—the <i>fixed stars</i>, as we call them, (to distinguish them from +the planets, the <i>wandering stars</i>,)—if any one were at any moderate +distance from us, we should see it change its apparent place with regard +to the others, in consequence of our thus changing our point of view two +hundred millions of miles: just as a distant spire changes its apparent +place with regard to the more distant mountain, when we move from one +window of our house to the other. But no such change of place is +discernible in any of the fixed stars: or at least, if we believe the +most recent asserted discoveries of astronomers, the change is so small +as to imply a distance in the star, of more than two hundred thousand +times the radius of the earth's orbit, which is, itself, as we have +said, one hundred millions of miles.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> This distance is so vastly +great, that we can very well believe that the fixed stars, though to our +best telescopes they appear only as points of light, are really as large +as our sun, and would give as much light as he does, if we could +approach as near to them. For since they are thus, the nearest of them, +two hundred thousand times as far off as he is, even if we could magnify +them a thousand times, which we can hardly do, they would still be only +one two-hundredth of the breadth of the sun; and thus, still a mere +point.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>5. But if each fixed star be of the nature of the sun, and not smaller +than the sun, does not analogy lead us to suppose that they have, some +of them at least, planets circulating about them, as our sun has? If the +Sun is the centre of the Solar System, why should not Sirius, (one of +the brightest of the fixed stars,) be the centre of the <i>Sirian System</i>? +And why should not that system have as many planets, with the same +resemblances and differences of the figure, movements, and conditions of +the different planets, as this? Why should not the Sirian System be as +great and as varied as the solar system? And this being granted, why +should not these planets be inhabited, as men have inferred the other +planets of the solar system, as well as the earth, to be? And thus we +have, added to the population of the universe of which we have already +spoken, a number (so far as we have reason to believe) not inferior to +the number of inhabitants of the solar system: this number being, +according to all the analogies, very many fold that of the population of +the whole earth?</p> + +<p>And this is the conclusion, when we reason from one star only, from +Sirius. But the argument is the same, from each of the stars. For we +have no reason to think that Sirius, though one of the brightest, is +more like our sun than any of the others is. The others appear less +bright in various degrees, probably because they are further removed +from us in various degrees. They may not be all of the same size and +brightness; it is very unlikely that they are. But they may as easily be +larger than the sun, as smaller. The natural assumption for us to make, +having no ground for any other opinion, is, that they are, upon the +average, of the size of our sun. On that assumption, we have as many +solar systems as we have fixed stars; and, it may be, six or ten, or +twenty times as many inhabited globes; inhabited by creatures of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>whom +we must suppose, by analogy, that God is mindful, if he is mindful of +us. The question recurs with overwhelming force, if we still follow the +same train of reflection: "What is man, that God is mindful of him?"</p> + +<p>6. But we have not yet exhausted the views which thus add to the force +of this reflection. The fixed stars, which appear to the eye so +numerous, so innumerable, in the clear sky on a moonless night, are not +really so numerous as they seem. To the naked eye, there are not visible +more than four or five thousand. The astronomers of Greece, and of other +countries, even in ancient times, counted them, mapped them, and gave +them names and designations. But Astronomy, who thus began her career by +diminishing, in some degree, the supposed numbers of the host of heaven, +has ended by immeasurably increasing them. The first application of the +telescope to the skies discovered a vast number of fixed stars, +previously unseen: and every improvement in that instrument has +disclosed myriads of new stars, visibly smaller than those which had +before been seen; and smaller and smaller, as the power of vision is +more and more strengthened by new aids from art; as if the regions of +space contained an inexhaustible supply of such objects; as if infinite +space were strewn with stars in every part of it to which vision could +reach. The small patch of the sky which forms, at any moment, the field +of view of one of the great telescopes of Herschel, discloses to him as +many stars, and those of as many different magnitudes, as the whole +vault of the sky exhibits to the naked eye. But the magnifying power of +such an instrument only discloses, it does not make, these stars. There +appears to be quite as much reason to believe, that each of these +telescopic stars is a sun, surrounded by its special family of planets, +as to believe that Sirius or Arcturus <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>is so. Here, then, we have again +an extension, indefinite to our apprehension, of the universe, as +occupied by material structures; and if so, why not by a living +population, such as the material structures which are nearest to us +support?</p> + +<p>7. Even yet we have not finished the series of successive views which +astronomers have had opened to them, extending more and more their +spectacle of the fulness and largeness of the universe. Not only does +the telescope disclose myriads of stars, unseen to the naked eye, and +new myriads with each increase of the powers of the instrument; but it +discloses also patches of light, which, at first at least, do not appear +to consist of stars: <i>Nebulæ</i>, as they are called; bright specks, it +might seem, of stellar matter, thin, diffused, and irregular; not +gathered into regular and definite forms, such as we may suppose the +stars to be. Every one who has noticed the starry skies, may understand +what is the general aspect of such nebulæ, by looking at the milky way +or galaxy, an irregular band of nebulous light, which runs quite round +the sky; "A circling zone, powdered with stars;" as Milton calls it. But +the nebulæ of which I more especially speak, are minute patches, +discovered mainly by the telescope, and in a few instances only +discernible by the naked eye. And what I have to remark especially +concerning them at present is, that though to visual powers which barely +suffice to discern them, they appear like mere bright clouds, patches of +diffused starry matter; yet that, when examined by visual powers of a +higher order, by more penetrating telescopes, these patches of +continuous feeble light are, in many instances at least, distinguishable +into definite points: they are found, in fact, to be aggregations of +stars; which before appeared as diffused light, only because our +telescopes, though strong enough to reveal to our senses the aggregate +mass of light of the cluster, were <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>not strong enough to enable us to +discern any one of the stars of which the cluster consists. The galaxy, +in this way, may, in almost every part, be <i>resolved</i> into separate +stars; and thus, the multitude of the stars in the region of the sky +occupied by that winding stream of light, is, when examined by a +powerful telescope, inconceivably numerous.</p> + +<p>8. The small telescopic nebulæ are of various forms; some of them may be +in the shape of flat strata, or cakes, as it were, of stars, of small +thickness, compared with the extent of the stratum. Now, if our sun were +one of the individuals of such a stratum, we, looking at the stars of +the stratum from his neighborhood, should see them very numerous and +close in the direction of the edge of the stratum, and comparatively few +and rare in other parts of the sky. We should, in short, see a galaxy +running round the sky, as we see in fact. And hence Sir William Herschel +has inferred, that our sun, with its attendant planets, has its place in +such a stratum; and that it thus belongs to a host of stars which are, +in a certain way, detached from the other nebulæ which we see. Perhaps, +he adds, some of those other nebulæ are beds and masses of stars not +less numerous than those which compose our galaxy, and which occupy a +larger portion of the sky, only because we are immersed in the interior +of the crowd. And thus, a minute speck of nebulous light, discernible +only by a good telescope, may contain not only as many stars as occupy +the sky to ordinary vision, but as many as is the number into which the +most powerful telescope resolves the milky light of the galaxy. And of +such resolvable nebulæ the number which are discovered in the sky is +very great, their forms being of the most various kind; so that many of +them may be, for aught we can tell, more amply stocked with stars than +the galaxy is. And if all the stars, or <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>a large proportion of the +stars, of the galaxy, be suns attended by planets, and these planets +peopled with living creatures, what notion must we form of the +population of the universe, when we have thus to reckon as many galaxies +as there are resolvable nebulæ! the stock of discoverable nebulæ being +as yet unexhausted by the powers of our telescopes; and the possibility +of resolving them into stars being also an operation which has not yet +been pursued to its limit.</p> + +<p>9. For, (and this is the last step which I shall mention in this long +series of ascending steps of multitude apparently infinite,) it now +begins to be suspected that not some nebulæ only, but <i>all</i>, are +resolvable into separate stars. When the nebulæ were first carefully +studied, it was supposed that they consisted, as they appeared to +consist, of some diffused and incoherent matter, not of definite and +limited masses. It was conceived that they were not stars, but Stellar +Matter in the course of formation into stars; and it was conceived, +further, that by the gradual concentration of such matter, whirling +round its centre while it concentrated, not only stars, that is, suns, +might be formed, but also systems of planets, circling round these suns; +and thus this <i>Nebular Hypothesis</i>, as it has been termed, gave a kind +of theory of the origin and formation of systems, such as the solar +system. But the great telescope which Lord Rosse has constructed, and +which is much more powerful than any optical instrument yet fabricated, +has been directed to many of the nebulæ, whose appearance had given rise +to this theory; and the result has been, in a great number of cases, +that the nebulæ are proved to consist entirely of distinct stars; and +that the diffused nebulous appearance is discovered to have been an +illusion, resulting from the accumulated light of a vast number of small +stars near to each other. In this manner, we are led to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>regard every +nebula, not as an imperfectly formed star or system, but as a vast +multitude of stars, and, for aught we can tell, of systems; for the +apparent smallness and nearness of these stars are, it is thought, mere +results of the vast distance at which they are placed from us. And thus, +perhaps, all the nebulæ are, what some of them seem certainly to be, so +many vast armies of stars, each of which stars, we have reason to +believe, is of the nature of our sun; and may have, and according to +analogy has, an accompaniment of living creatures, such as our sun has, +certainly on the earth, probably, it is thought, in the other planets.</p> + +<p>10. It is difficult to grasp, in one view, the effect of the successive +steps from number to number, from distance to distance, which we have +thus been measuring over. We may, however, state them again briefly, in +the way of enumeration.</p> + +<p>From our own place on the earth, we pass, in thought, as a first step, +to the whole globe of the Earth; from this, as a second step, to the +Planets, the other globes which compose the Solar System. A third step +carries us to the Fixed Stars, as visible to the naked eye; very +numerous and immensely distant. The transition to the Telescopic Stars +makes a fourth step; and in this, the number and the space are +increased, almost beyond the power of numbers to express how many there +are, and at what distances. But a fifth step:—perhaps all this array of +stars, obvious and telescopic, only make up our Nebula; while the +universe is occupied by other Nebulæ innumerable, so distant that, seen +from them, our nebula, though including, it may be, stars of the 20th +magnitude, which may be 20 times or 2,000 times more remote than Sirius, +would become a telescopic speck, as their nebulæ are to us.</p> + +<p>11. Various images and modes of representation have been employed, in +order to convey to the mind some notion of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>dimensions of the scheme +of the universe to which we are thus introduced. Thus, we may reckon +that a cannon-ball, moving with its usual original velocity unabated, +would describe the interval between the sun and the earth in about one +year. And this being so, the same missile would, from what has been +said, occupy more, we know not how much more, than 200,000 years in +going to the nearest fixed star: and perhaps a thousand times as much, +in going to other stars belonging to our group; and then again, 200,000 +times so much, or some number of the like order, in going from one group +to another. When we have advanced a step or two in this mode of +statement, the velocity of the cannon-ball hardly perceptibly affects +the magnitude of the numbers which we have to use.</p> + +<p>And the same nearly is the case if we have recourse to the swiftest +motion with which we are acquainted; that of Light. Light travels, it is +shown by indisputable scientific reasonings, in about eight minutes from +the sun to the earth. Hence we can easily calculate that it would occupy +at least three years to travel as far as Sirius, and probably, three +thousand years, or a much greater number, to reach to the smallest +stars, or to come from them to us. And thus, as Sir W. Herschel +remarked, since light is the only vehicle by which information +concerning these distant bodies is conveyed to us, we do, by seeing +them, receive information, not what they are at this moment, but what +they were, as to visible condition, thousands of years ago. Stars may +have been created when man was created, and yet their light may not have +reached him.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>Stars may have been extinguished thousands of years +ago, and yet may still be visible to our eyes, by means of the light +which they emitted previous to their extinction, and which has not yet +died away.</p> + +<p>12. So vast then are the distances at which the different bodies of the +universe are distributed; and yet so numerous are those bodies. In the +vastness of their distances, there is, indeed, nothing which need +disturb our minds, or which, after a little reflection, is likely to do +so: for when we have said all that can be said, about the largeness of +these distances, still there is no difficulty in finding room for them. +We necessarily conceive <i>Space</i> as being infinite in its extent: however +much space the heavenly bodies occupy, there is space beyond them: if +they are not there, space is there nevertheless. That the stars and +planets are so far from each other, is an arrangement which prevents +their disturbing each other with their mutual attractions, to any +destructive extent; and is an arrangement which the spacious, the +infinite universe, admits of, without any difficulty.</p> + +<p>13. But we are more especially concerned with the <i>Numbers</i> of the +heavenly bodies. So many planets about our sun: so many suns, each +perhaps with its family of planets: and then, all these suns making but +one group: and other groups coming into view, one after another, in +seemingly endless succession: and all these planets being of the nature +of our earth, as all these stars are of the nature of our sun:—all +this, presents to us a spectacle of a world—of a countless host of +worlds—of which, when we regard them as thus arranged in planetary +systems, and as having, according to all probability, years and seasons, +days and nights, as we have, we cannot but accept it as at least a +likely suggestion, that they have also inhabitants;—intelligent beings +who can reckon these <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>days and years; who subsist on the fruits which +the season brings forth, and have their daily and yearly occupations, +according to their faculties. When we take, as our scheme of the +universe, such a scheme as this, we may well be overwhelmed with the +number of provinces, besides that in which man dwells, which the empire +of the Lord of all includes; and, recurring to the words of the +Psalmist, we may say with a profundity of meaning immeasurably +augmented—"Lord, what is man?"</p> + +<p>It was this view, I conceive, which Dr. Chalmers had in his thoughts, in +pursuing the speculations which I have mentioned, in the outset of this +Essay.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> It is quite to our purpose to recollect the impression +which such discoveries naturally make upon a pious mind. +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh! rack me not to such extent,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">These distances belong to Thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The world's too little for Thy tent,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A grave too big for me!<br /></span> +</div></div> +<span style="margin-left:12em;"><span class="smcap">George Herbert.</span></span><br /> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This thought is, however, older. Young expresses it in his +<i>Night Thoughts</i>, Night IX., (published in 1744): +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">How distant some of these nocturnal suns!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">So distant (says the sage) 'twere not absurd<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To doubt if beams, set out at nature's birth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are yet arrived at this so foreign world.<br /></span> +</div></div> +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTION TO RELIGION.</p> + + +<p>1. Such astronomical views, then, as those just stated, we may suppose +to be those to which Chalmers had reference, in the argument of his +<i>Astronomical Discourses</i>. These real or supposed discoveries of +astronomers, or a considerable part of them, were the facts which were +present to his mind, and of which he there discusses the bearings upon +religious truths. This multiplicity of systems and worlds, which the +telescopic scrutiny of the stars is assumed to have disclosed, or to +have made probable, is the main feature in the constitution of the +universe, as revealed by science, to which his reflections are directed. +Nor can we say that, in fixing upon this view, he has gone out of his +way, to struggle with obscure and latent difficulties, such as the bulk +of mankind know and care little about. For in reality, such views are +generally diffused in our time and country, are common to all classes of +readers, and as we may venture to express it, are the <i>popular</i> views of +persons of any degree of intellectual culture, who have, directly or +derivatively, accepted the doctrines of modern science. Among such +persons, expressions which imply that the stars are globes of luminous +matter, like the sun; that there are, among them, systems of revolving +bodies, seats of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>life and of intelligence; are so frequent and +familiar, that those who so speak, do not seem to be aware that, in +using such expressions, they are making any assumption at all; any more +than they suppose themselves to be making assumptions, when they speak +of the globular form of the earth, or of its motion round the sun, or of +its revolution on its axis. It was, therefore, a suitable and laudable +purpose, for a writer like Chalmers, well instructed in science, of +large and comprehensive views with regard both to religion and to +philosophy, of deep and pervasive piety, and master of a dignified and +persuasive eloquence, to employ himself in correcting any erroneous +opinions and impressions respecting the bearing which such scientific +doctrines have upon religious truth. It was his lot to labor among men +of great intellectual curiosity, acuteness, and boldness: it was his +tendency to deal with new views of others on the most various subjects, +religious, philosophical, and social; and, on such subjects, to +originate new views of his own. It fell especially within his province, +therefore, to satisfy the minds of the public who listened to him, with +regard to the conflict, if a conflict there was, or seemed to be, +between new scientific doctrines, and permanent religious verities. He +was, by his culture and his powers, peculiarly fitted, and therefore +peculiarly called, to mediate between the scientific and the religious +world of his time.</p> + +<p>2. The scientific doctrine which he especially deals with, in the work +to which I refer, is the multiplicity of worlds;—the existence of many +seats of life, of enjoyment, of intelligence; and it may be, as he +suggests also, of moral law, of transgression, of alienation from God, +and of the need, and of the means, of reconciliation to Him; or of +obedience to Him and sympathy with Him. That if there be many worlds +resembling our world in other respects, they may resemble it in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>some of +these, is an obvious, and we may say, an irresistible conjecture, in any +speculative mind to which the doctrine itself has been conveyed. Nor can +it fail to be very interesting, to see how such a writer as I have +described deals with such a suggestion; how far he accepts or inclines +to accept it; and if so, what aspect such a view leads him to give to +truths, either belonging to Natural or to Revealed Theology, which, +before the introduction of such a view, were regarded as bearing only +upon the world of which man is the inhabitant.</p> + +<p>3. The mode in which Chalmers treats this suggestion, is to regard it as +the ground of an objection to Religion, either Natural or Revealed. He +supposes an objector to take his stand upon the multiplicity of worlds, +assumed or granted as true; and to argue that, since there are so many +worlds beside this, all alike claiming the care, the government, the +goodness, the interposition, of the Creator, it is in the highest degree +extravagant and absurd, to suppose that he has done, for this world, +that which Religion, both Natural and Revealed, represents him as having +done, and as doing. When we are told that God has provided, and is +constantly providing, for the life, the welfare, the comfort of all the +living things which people this earth, we can, by an effort of thought +and reflection, bring ourselves to believe that it is so. When we are +further told that He has given a moral law to man, the intelligent +inhabitant of the earth, and governs him by a moral government, we are +able, or at least the great bulk of thoughtful men, on due consideration +of all the bearings of the case, are able, to accept the conviction, +that this also is so. When we are still farther asked to believe that +the imperfect sway of this moral law over man has required to be +remedied by a special interposition of the Governor of the world, or by +a series of special interpositions, to make the Law clear, and to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>remedy the effects of man's transgression of it; this doctrine +also,—according to the old and unscientific view, which represents the +human race as, in an especial manner, the summit and crown of God's +material workmanship, the end of the rest of creation, and the selected +theatre of God's dealings with transgression and with obedience,—we can +conceive, and, as religious persons hold, we can find ample and +satisfactory evidence to believe. But if this world be merely one of +innumerable worlds, all, like it, the workmanship of God; all, the seats +of life, like it; others, like it, occupied by intelligent creatures, +capable of will, of law, of obedience, of disobedience, as man is; to +hold that this world has been the scene of God's care and kindness, and +still more, of his special interpositions, communications, and personal +dealings with its individual inhabitants, in the way which Religion +teaches, is, the objector is conceived to maintain, extravagant and +incredible. It is to select one of the millions of globes which are +scattered through the vast domain of space, and to suppose that one to +be treated in a special and exceptional manner, without any reason for +the assumption of such a peculiarity, except that this globe happens to +be the habitation of us, who make this assumption. If Religion require +us to assume, that one particular corner of the Universe has been thus +singled out, and made an exception to the general rules by which all +other parts of the Universe are governed; she makes, it may be said, a +demand upon our credulity which cannot fail to be rejected by those who +are in the habit of contemplating and admiring those general laws. Can +the Earth be thus the centre of the moral and religious universe, when +it has been shown to have no claim to be the centre of the physical +universe? Is it not as absurd to maintain this, as it would be to hold, +at the present day, the old Ptolemaic hypothesis, which places <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>the +Earth in the centre of the heavenly motions, instead of the newer +Copernican doctrine, which teaches that the Earth revolves round the +Sun? Is not Religion disproved, by the necessity under which she lies, +of making such an assumption as this?</p> + +<p>4. Such is, in a general way, the objection to Religion with which +Chalmers deals; and, as I have said, his mode of treating it is highly +interesting and instructive. Perhaps, however, we shall make our +reasonings and speculations apply to a wider class of readers, if we +consider the view now spoken of, not as an objection, urged by an +opponent of religion, but rather as a difficulty, felt by a friend of +religion. It is, I conceive, certain that many of those who are not at +all disposed to argue against religion, but who, on the contrary, feel +that their whole internal comfort and repose are bound up indissolubly +with their religious convictions, are still troubled and dismayed at the +doctrines of the vastness of the universe, and the multitude of worlds, +which they suppose to be taught and proved by astronomy. They have a +profound reverence for the Idea of God; they are glad to acknowledge +their constant and universal dependence upon His preserving power and +goodness; they are ready and desirous to recognize the working of His +providence; they receive the moral law, as His law, with reverence and +submission; they regard their transgressions of this law as sins against +Him; and are eager to find the mode of reconciliation to Him, when thus +estranged from him; they willingly think of God, as near to them. But +while they listen to the evidence which science, as we have said, sets +before them, of the long array of groups, and hosts, and myriads, of +worlds, which are brought to our knowledge, they find themselves +perturbed and distressed. They would willingly think of God as near to +them; but during the progress <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>of this enumeration, He appears, at every +step, to be removed further and further from them. To discover that the +Earth is so large, the number of its inhabitants so great, its form so +different from what man at first imagines it, may perhaps have startled +them; but in this view, there is nothing which a pious mind does not +easily surmount. But if Venus and Mars also have their inhabitants; if +Saturn and Jupiter, globes so much larger than the earth, have a +proportional amount of population; may not man be neglected or +overlooked? Is he worthy to be regarded by the Creator of all? May not, +must not, the most pious mind recur to the exclamation of the Psalmist: +"Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" And must not this +exclamation, under the new aspect of things, be accompanied by an +enfeebled and less confident belief that God <i>is</i> mindful of him? And +then, this array of planets, which derive their light from the Sun, +extends much further than even the astronomer at first suspected. The +orbit of Saturn is ten times as wide as the orbit of the earth; but +beyond Saturn, and almost twice as far from the sun, Herschel discovers +Uranus, another great planet; and again, beyond Uranus, and again at +nearly twice <i>his</i> distance, the subtle sagacity of the astronomers of +our day, surmises, and then detects, another great planet. In such a +system as this, the earth shrinks into insignificance. Can its concerns +engage the attention of him who made the whole? But again, this whole +Solar System itself, with all its orbits and planets, shrinks into a +mere point, when compared with the nearest fixed star. And again, the +distance which lies between us and such stars, shrinks into incalculable +smallness, when we journey in thought to other fixed stars. And again, +and again, the field of our previous contemplation suffers an +immeasurable contraction, as we pass on to other points of view.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p><p>5. And in all these successive moves, we are still within the dominions +of the same Creator and Governor; and at every move, we are brought, we +may suppose, to new bodies of his subjects, bearing, in the expansion of +their number, some proportion to the expanse of space which they occupy. +And if this be so, how shall the earth, and men, its inhabitants, thus +repeatedly annihilated, as it were, by the growing magnitude of the +known Universe, continue to be anything in the regard of Him who +embraces all? Least of all, how shall men continue to receive that +special, persevering, providential, judicial, personal care, which +religion implies; and without the belief of which, any man who has +religious thoughts, must be disturbed and unhappy, desolate and +forsaken?</p> + +<p>6. Such are, I conceive, the thoughts of many persons, under the +influence of the astronomical views which Chalmers refers to as being +sometimes employed against religious belief. Of course, it is natural +that the views which are used by unbelievers as arguments against +religious belief, should create difficulties and troubles in the minds +of believers; at least, till the argument is rebutted. And of course +also, the answers to the arguments, considered as infidel arguments, +would operate to remove the difficulties which believers entertain on +such grounds. Chalmers' reasonings against such arguments, therefore, +will, so for as they are valid, avail to relieve the mental trouble of +believers, who are perplexed and oppressed by the astronomical views of +which I have spoken; as well as to confute and convince those who reject +religion, on such astronomical grounds. It may, however, as I have said, +be of use to deal with these difficulties rather as difficulties of +religious men, than as objections of irreligious men; to examine rather +how we can quiet the troubled and perplexed believer, than how we can +triumph over the dogmatic and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>self-satisfied infidel. I, at least, +should wish to have the former, rather than the latter of these tasks, +regarded as that which I propose to myself.</p> + +<p>I shall hereafter attempt to explain more fully the difficulties which +the doctrine of the Plurality of Worlds appears to some persons to throw +in the way of Revealed Religion; but before I do so, there is one part +of Chalmers' answer, bearing especially upon Natural Religion, which it +may be proper to attend to.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE ANSWER FROM THE MICROSCOPE.</p> + + +<p>1. It is not my business, nor my intention, to criticize the remarkable +work of Chalmers to which I have so often referred. But I may say, that +the arguments there employed by him, so far as they go upon astronomical +or philosophical grounds, are of great weight; and upon the whole, such +as we may both assent to, as scientifically true, and accept as +rationally persuasive. I think, however, that there are other arguments, +also drawn from scientific discoveries, which bear, in a very important +and striking manner, upon the opinions in question, and which Chalmers +has not referred to; and I conceive that there are philosophical views +of another kind, which, for those who desire and who will venture to +regard the Universe and its Creator in the wider and deeper relations +which appear to be open to human speculation, may be a source of +satisfaction. When certain positive propositions, maintained as true +while they are really highly doubtful, have given rise to difficulties +in the minds of religious persons, other positive propositions, +combating these, propounded and supported by argument, that they may be +accepted according to their evidence, may, at any rate, have force +enough to break down and dissipate such loosely founded difficulties. To +present to the reader's <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>mind such speculations as I have thus +indicated, is the object of the following pages. They can, of course, +pretend to no charm, except for persons who are willing to have their +minds occupied with such difficulties and such speculations as I have +referred to. Those who are willing to be so employed, may, perhaps, find +in what I have to say something which may interest them. For, of the +arguments which I have to expound, some, though they appear to me both +very obvious and very forcible, have never, so far as I am aware, been +put forth in that religious bearing which seems to belong to them; and +others, though aspiring to point out in some degree the relation of the +Universe and its Creator, are of a very simple kind; that is, for minds +which are prepared to deal with such subjects at all.</p> + +<p>2. As I have said, the arguments with which we are here concerned refer +both to Natural Religion and to Revealed Religion; and there is one of +Chalmers' arguments, bearing especially upon the former branch of the +subject, which I may begin by noticing. Among the thoughts which, it was +stated, might naturally arise in men's minds, when the telescope +revealed to them an innumerable multitude of worlds besides the one +which we inhabit, was this: that the Governor of the Universe, who has +so many worlds under his management, cannot be conceived as bestowing +upon this Earth, and its various tribes of inhabitants, that care which, +till then, Natural Religion had taught men that he does employ, to +secure to man the possession and use of his faculties of mind and body; +and to all animals the requisites of animal existence and animal +enjoyment. And upon this Chalmers remarks, that just about the time when +science gave rise to the suggestion of this difficulty, she also gave +occasion to a remarkable reply to it. Just about the same time that the +invention of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span><i>Telescope</i> showed that there were innumerable worlds, +which might have inhabitants requiring the Creator's care as much as the +tribes of this earth do,—the invention of the <i>Microscope</i> showed that +there were, in this world, innumerable tribes of animals, which had been +all along enjoying the benefits of the Creator's care, as much as those +kinds with which man had been familiar from the beginning. The telescope +suggested that there might be dwellers in Jupiter or in Saturn, of giant +size and unknown structure, who must share with us the preserving care +of God. The microscope showed that there had been, close to us, +inhabiting minute crevices and crannies, peopling the leaves of plants, +and the bodies of other animals, animalcules of a minuteness hitherto +unguessed, and of a structure hitherto unknown, who had been always +sharers with us in God's preserving care. The telescope brought into +view worlds as numerous as the drops of water which make up the ocean; +the microscope brought into view a world in almost every drop of water. +Infinity in one direction was balanced by infinity in the other. The +doubts which men might feel as to what God could do, were balanced by +certainties which they discovered, as to what he had always been doing. +His care and goodness could not be supposed to be exhausted by the +hitherto known population of the earth, for it was proved that they had +not hitherto been confined to that population. The discovery of new +worlds at vast distances from us, was accompanied by the discovery of +new worlds close to us, even in the very substances with which we were +best acquainted; and was thus rendered ineffective to disturb the belief +of those who had regarded the world as having God for its governor.</p> + +<p>3. This is a striking reflection, and is put by Chalmers in a very +striking manner; and it is well fitted to remove the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>scruples to which +it is especially addressed. If there be any persons to whom the +astronomical discoveries which the telescope has brought to light, +suggests doubts or difficulties with regard to such truths of Natural +Religion as God's care for and government of the inhabitants of the +earth, the discoveries of the many various forms of animalcular life +which the microscope has brought to light are well fitted to remove such +doubts, and to solve such difficulties. We may easily believe that the +power of God to sustain and provide for animal life, animal sustenance, +animal enjoyment, can suffice for innumerable worlds besides this, +without being withdrawn or distracted or wearied in this earth; for we +find that it does suffice for innumerable more inhabitants of this earth +than we were before aware of. If we had imagined before, that, in +conceiving God as able and willing to provide for the life and pleasure +of all the sentient beings which we knew to exist upon the earth, we had +formed an adequate notion of his power and of his goodness, these +microscopical discoveries are well adapted to undeceive us. They show us +that all the notions which our knowledge, hitherto, had enabled us to +form of the powers and attributes of the Creator and Preserver of all +living things, are vastly, are immeasurably below the real truth of the +case. They show us that God, as revealed to us in the animal creation, +is the Author and Giver of life, of the organization which life implies, +of the contrivances by which it is conducted and sustained, of the +enjoyment by which it is accompanied,—to an extent infinitely beyond +what the unassisted vision of man could have suggested. The facts which +are obvious to man, from which religious minds in all ages have drawn +their notions and their evidence of the Divine power and goodness, care +and wisdom, in providing for its creatures, require, we find, to be +indefinitely extended, in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>virtue of the new tribes of minute creatures, +and still new tribes, and still more minute, which we find existing +around us. The views of our Natural Theology must be indefinitely +extended on one side; and therefore we need not be startled or disturbed +at having to extend them indefinitely on the other side;—at having to +believe that there are, in other worlds, creatures whom God has created, +whom he sustains in life, for whom he provides the pleasures of life, as +he does for the long unsuspected creatures of this world.</p> + +<p>4. This is, I say, a reflection which might quiet the mind of a person, +whom astronomical discoveries had led to doubt of the ordinary doctrines +of Natural Religion. But, I think, it may be questioned, whether, to +produce such doubts, is a common or probable effect of an acquaintance +with astronomical discoveries. Undoubtedly, by such discoveries, a +person who believes in God, in his wisdom, power, and goodness, on the +evidence of the natural world, is required to extend and exalt his +conceptions of those Divine Attributes. He had believed God to be the +Author of many forms of life;—he finds him to be the Author of still +more forms of life. He had traced many contrivances in the structure of +animals, for their sustentation and well-being; his new discoveries +disclose to him (for that is undoubtedly among the effects of +microscopic researches) still more nice contrivances. He had seen reason +to think that all sentient beings have their enjoyments; he finds new +fields of enjoyment of the same kind. But in all this, there is little +or nothing to disturb the views and convictions of the Natural +Theologian. He must, even by the evidence of facts patent to ordinary +observation, have been led to believe that the Divine Wisdom and Power +are not only great, but great in a degree which we cannot fathom or +comprehend;—that they are, to our apprehension, infinite: his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>new +discoveries only confirm the impression of this infinite character of +the Divine Attributes. He had before believed the existence of an +intelligent and wise Creator, on the evidence of the marks of design and +contrivance, which the creation exhibited: of such design and +contrivance he discovers new marks, new examples. He had believed that +God is good, because he found those contrivances invariably had the good +of the creature for their object: he finds, still, that this is the +general, the universal scheme of the creation, now when his view of it +is extended. He has no difficulty in expanding his religious +conceptions, to correspond with his scientific discoveries, so far as +the microscope is the instrument of discovery; there is no reason why he +should have any more difficulty in doing the same, when the telescope is +his informant. It is true, that in this case the information is more +imperfect. It does not tell him, even that there are living inhabitants +in the regions which it reveals; and, consequently, it does not disclose +any of those examples of design which belong to the structure of living +things. But if we suppose, from analogy, that there are living things in +those regions, we have no difficulty in conceiving, from analogy also, +that those living things are constructed with a care and wisdom such as +appear in the inhabitants of earth. It will not readily or commonly +occur to a speculator on such subjects, that there is any source of +perplexity or unbelief, in such an assumption of inhabitants of other +worlds, even if we make the assumption. It is as easy, it may well and +reasonably be thought, for God to create a population for the planets as +to make the planets themselves;—as easy to supply Jupiter with tenants, +as with satellites;—as easy to devise the organization of an inhabitant +of Saturn, as the structure and equilibrium of Saturn's ring. It is no +more difficult for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>the Universal Creator to extend to those bodies the +powers which operate in organized matter, than the powers which operate +in brute matter. It is as easy for Him to establish circulation and +nutrition in material structures, as cohesion and crystallization, which +we must suppose the planetary masses to possess; or attraction and +inertia, which we know them to possess. No doubt, to our conception, +organization appears to be a step beyond cohesion; circulation of living +fluids, a step beyond crystallization of dead masses:—but then, it is +in tracing such steps, that we discern the peculiar character of the +Creator's agency. He does not merely work with mechanical and chemical +powers, as man to a certain extent can do; but with organic and vital +powers, which man cannot command. The Creator, therefore, can animate +the dust of each planet, as easily as make the dust itself. And when +from organic life we rise to sentient life, we have still only another +step in the known order of Creative Power. To create animals, in any +province of the Universe, cannot be conceived as much more +incomprehensible or incredible, than to create vegetables. No doubt, the +addition of the living and sentient principle to the material, and even +to the organic structure, is a mighty step; and one which may, perhaps, +be made the occasion of some speculative suggestions, in a subsequent +part of this Essay; but still, it is not likely that any one, who had +formed his conceptions of the Divine Mind from its manifestations in the +production and sustentation of animal, as well as vegetable life, on +this earth, would have his belief in the operation of such a Mind, +shaken, by any necessity which might be impressed upon him, of granting +the existence of animal life on other planets, as well as on the earth, +or even on innumerable such planets, and on innumerable systems of +planets and worlds, system above system.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p><p>5. The remark of Chalmers, therefore, to which I have referred, +striking as it is, does not appear to bear directly upon a difficulty of +any great force. If astronomy gives birth to scruples which interfere +with religion, they must be found in some other quarter than in the +possibility of mere animal life existing in other parts of the Universe, +as well as on our earth. That possibility may require us to enlarge our +idea of the Deity, but it has little or no tendency to disturb our +apprehension of his attributes.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class="center">FURTHER STATEMENT OF THE DIFFICULTY.</p> + + +<p>1. We have attempted to show that if the discoveries made by the +Telescope should excite in any one's mind, difficulties respecting those +doctrines of Natural Religion,—the adequacy of the Creator to the +support and guardianship of all the animal life which may exist in the +universe,—the discoveries of the Microscope may remove such +difficulties; but we have remarked also, that the train of thought which +leads men to dwell upon such difficulties does not seem to be common.</p> + +<p>But what will be the train of thought to which we shall be led, if we +suppose that there are, on other planets, and in other systems, not +animals only, living things, which, however different from the animals +of this earth, are yet in some way analogous to them, according to the +difference of circumstances; but also creatures analogous to +man;—intellectual creatures, living, we must suppose, under a moral +law, responsible for transgression, the subjects of a Providential +Government? If we suppose that, in the other planets of our solar +systems, and of other systems, there are creatures of such a kind, and +under such conditions as these, how far will the religious opinions +which we had previously entertained be disturbed or modified? Will any +new difficulty be introduced <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>into our views of the government of the +world by such a supposition?</p> + +<p>2. I have spoken of man as an Intellectual Creature; meaning thereby +that he has a Mind;—powers of thought, by which he can contemplate the +relations and properties of things in a general and abstract form; and +among other relations, moral relations, the distinction of <i>right</i> and +<i>wrong</i> in his actions. Those powers of thought lead him to think of a +Creator and Ordainer of all things; and his perception of right and +wrong leads him to regard this Creator as also the Governor and Judge of +his creatures. The operation of his mind directs him to believe in a +Supreme Mind: his moral nature directs him to believe that the course of +human affairs, and the condition of men, both as individuals and as +bodies, is determined by the providential government of God.</p> + +<p>3. With regard to the bearing of a merely <i>intellectual</i> nature on such +questions, it does not appear that any considerable difficulty would be +<i>at once</i> occasioned in our religious views, by supposing such a nature +to belong to other creatures, the inhabitants of other planets, as well +as to man. The existence of our own minds directs us, as I have said, to +a Supreme Mind; and the nature of Mind is conceived to be, in all its +manifestations, so much the same, that we can conceive minds to be +multiplied indefinitely, without fear of confusion, interference, or +exhaustion. There may be, in Jupiter, creatures endowed with an +intellect which enables them to discover and demonstrate the relations +of space; and if so, they cannot have discovered and demonstrated +anything of that kind as true, which is not true for us also: their +Geometry must coincide with ours, as far as each goes:—thus showing how +absurdly, as Plato long ago observed, we give to the science which deals +with the relations of space, a name (<i>geometry</i>), <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>borrowed from the art +of measuring the earth. The earth with its properties is no more the +special basis of geometry, than are Jupiter or Saturn, or, so far as we +can judge, Sirius or Arcturus and their systems, with their properties. +Wherever pure intellect is, we are compelled to conceive that, when +employed upon the same objects, its results and conclusions are the +same. If there be intelligent inhabitants of the Moon, they may, like +us, have employed their intelligence in reasoning upon the properties of +lines and angles and triangles; and must, so far as they have gone, have +arrived, in their thoughts, at the same properties of lines and angles +and triangles, at which we have arrived. They must, like us, have had to +distinguish between right angles and oblique angles. They may have come +to know, as some of the inhabitants of the earth came to know, four +thousand years ago, that, in a right-angled triangle, the square on the +larger side is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. +We can conceive occurrences which would give us evidence that the Moon, +as well as the Earth, contains geometers. If we were to see, on the face +of the full moon, a figure gradually becoming visible, representing a +right-angled triangle with a square constructed on each of its three +sides as a base; we should regard it as the work of intelligent +creatures there, who might be thus making a signal to the inhabitants of +the earth, that they possessed such knowledge, and were desirous of +making known to their nearest neighbors in the solar system, their +existence and their speculations. In such an event, curious and striking +as it would be, we should see nothing but what we could understand and +accept, without unsettling our belief in the Supreme and Divine +Intelligence. On the contrary, we could hardly fail to receive such a +manifestation as a fresh evidence that the Divine Mind had imparted to +the inhabitants of the Moon, as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>he has to us, a power of apprehending, +in a very general and abstract form, the relations of that space in +which he performs his works. We should judge, that having been led so +far in their speculations, they must, in all probability, have been led +also to a conception of the Universe, as the field of action of a +universal and Divine Mind; that having thus become geometers, they must +have ascended to the Idea of a God who works by geometry.</p> + +<p>4. But yet, by such a supposition, on further consideration, we find +ourselves introduced to views entirely different from those to which we +are led by the supposition of mere animal life, existing in other worlds +than the earth. For, not to dwell here upon any speculations as to how +far the operations of our minds may resemble the operations of the +Divine Mind;—a subject which we shall hereafter endeavor to +discuss;—we know that the advance to such truths as those of geometry +has been, among the inhabitants of the earth, gradual and progressive. +Though the human mind have had the same powers and faculties, from the +beginning of the existence of the race up to the present time, (as we +cannot but suppose,) the results of the exercise of these powers and +faculties have been very different in different ages; and have gradually +grown up, from small beginnings, to the vast and complex body of +knowledge concerning the scheme and relations of the Universe, which is +at present accessible to the minds of human speculators. It is, as we +have said, probably about four thousand years, since the first steps in +such knowledge were made. Geometry is said to have had its origin in +Egypt; but it assumed its abstract and speculative character first among +the Greeks. Pythagoras is related to have been the first who saw, in the +clear light of demonstration, the property of the right-angled triangle, +of which we have spoken. The Greeks, from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>the time of Socrates, +stimulated especially by Plato, pursued, with wonderful success, the +investigation of this kind of truths. They saw that such truths had +their application in the heavens, far more extensively than on the +earth. They were enabled, by such speculations, to unravel, in a great +degree, the scheme of the universe, before so seemingly entangled and +perplexed. They determined, to a very considerable extent, the relative +motions of the planets and of the stars. And in modern times, after a +long interval, in which such knowledge was nearly stationary, the +progress again began; and further advances were successively made in +man's knowledge of the scheme and structure of the visible heavens; till +at length the intellect of man was led to those views of the extent of +the Universe and the nature of the stars, which are the basis of the +discussions in which we are now engaged. And thus man, having probably +been, in the earliest ages of the existence of the species, entirely +ignorant of abstract truth, and of the relations which, by the knowledge +of such truth, we can trace in nature, (as the barbarous tribes which +occupy the greater part of the earth's surface still are;) has, by a +long series of progressive steps, come into the possession of knowledge, +which we cannot regard without wonder and admiration; and which seems to +elevate him in no inconsiderable degree, towards a community of thought +with that Divine Mind, into the nature and scheme of whose works he is +thus permitted to penetrate.</p> + +<p>5. Now the knowledge which man is capable, by the nature of his mental +faculties, of acquiring, being thus blank and rudimentary at first, and +only proceeding gradually, by the steps of a progress, numerous, slow, +and often long interrupted, to that stage in which it is the basis of +our present speculations; the view which we have just taken, of the +nature of Intellect, as a faculty always of the same kind, always +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>uniform in its operations, always consistent in its results, appears to +require reconsideration; and especially with reference to the +application which we made of that view, to the intelligent inhabitants +of other planets and other worlds, if such inhabitants there be. For if +we suppose that there are, in the Moon, or in Jupiter, creatures +possessing intellectual faculties of the same kind as those of man; +capable of apprehending the same abstract and general truths; able, like +man, to attain to a knowledge of the scheme of the Universe; yet this +supposition merely gives the capacity and the ability; and does not +include any security, or even high probability, as it would seem, of the +exercise of such capacity, or of the successful application of such +ability. Even if the surface of the Moon be inhabited by creatures as +intelligent as men, why must we suppose that they know anything more of +the geometry and astronomy, than the great bulk of the less cultured +inhabitants of the earth, who occupy, really, a space far larger than +the surface of the Moon; and, all intelligent though they be, and in the +full possession of mental faculties, are yet, on the subjects of +geometry and astronomy, entirely ignorant;—their minds, as to such a +knowledge, a blank? It does not follow, then, that even if there be such +inhabitants in the Moon, or in the Planets, they have any sympathy with +us, or any community of knowledge on the subjects of which we are now +speaking. The surface of the Moon, or of Jupiter, or of Saturn, even if +well peopled, may be peopled only with tribes as barbarous and ignorant +as Tartars, or Esquimaux, or Australians; and therefore, by making such +a supposition, we do little, even hypothetically, to extend the dominion +of that intelligence, by means of which all intelligent beings have some +community of thought with each other, and some suggestion of the working +of the Divine and Universal Mind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p><p>6. But, in fact, the view which we have given of the mode of existence +of the human species upon the earth, as being a progressive existence, +even in the development of the intellectual powers and their results, +necessarily fastens down our thoughts and our speculations to the earth, +and makes us feel how visionary and gratuitous it is to assume any +similar kind of existence in any region occupied by other beings than +man. As we have said, we have no insuperable difficulty in conceiving +other parts of the Universe to be tenanted by animals. Animal life +implies no progress in the species. Such as they are in one century, +such are they in another. The conditions of their sustentation and +generation being given, which no difference of physical circumstances +can render incredible, the race may, so far as we can see, go on +forever. But a race which makes a progress in the development of its +faculties cannot thus, or at least cannot with the same ease, be +conceived as existing through all time, and under all circumstances. +Progress implies, or at least suggests, a beginning and an end. If the +mere existence of a race imply a sustaining and preserving power in the +Creator, the progress of a race implies a guiding and impelling power; a +Governor and Director, as well as a Creator and Preserver. And progress, +not merely in material conditions, not merely in the exercise of bodily +faculties, but in the exercise of mental faculties, in the intellectual +condition of a portion of the species, still more implies a special +position and character of the race, which cannot, without great license +of hypothesis, be extended to other races; and which, if so extended, +becomes unmeaning, from the impossibility of our knowing what is +progress in any other species;—from what and towards what it tends. The +intellectual progress of the human species has been a progress in the +use of thought, and in the knowledge which such use procures; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>it has +been a progress from mere matter to mind; from the impressions of sense +to ideas; from what in knowledge is casual, partial, temporary, to what +is necessary, universal, and eternal. We can conceive no progress, of +the nature of this, which is not identical with this; nothing like it, +which is not the same. And, therefore, if we will people other planets +with creatures, intelligent as man is intelligent, we must not only give +to them the intelligence, but the intellectual history of the human +species. They must have had their minds unfolded by steps similar to +those by which the human mind has been unfolded; or at least, differing +from them only as the intellectual history of one nation of the earth +differs from that of another. They must have had their Pythagoras, their +Plato, their Kepler, their Galileo, their Newton, if they know what we +know. And thus, in order to conceive, on the Moon or on Jupiter, a race +of beings intelligent like man, we must conceive, there, colonies of +men, with histories resembling more or less the histories of human +colonies; and indeed resembling the history of those nations whose +knowledge we inherit, far more closely than the history of any other +terrestrial nation resembles that part of terrestrial history. If we do +this, we exercise an act of invention and imagination which may be as +coherent as a fairy tale, but which, without further proof, must be as +purely imaginary and arbitrary. But if we do not do this, we cannot +conceive that those regions are occupied at all by intelligent beings. +Intelligence, as we see in the human race, in order to have those +characters which concern our argument, implies a history of intellectual +development; and to assume arbitrarily a history of intellectual +development for the inhabitants of a remote planet, as a ground of +reasoning either for or against Religion, is a proceeding which we can +hardly be expected either to assent <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>to or to refute. If we are to form +any opinions with regard to the condition of such bodies, and to trace +any bearing of such opinions upon our religious views, we must proceed +upon some ground which has more of reality than such a gratuitous +assumption.</p> + +<p>7. Thus the condition of man upon the earth, as a condition of +intellectual progress, implies such a special guidance and government +exercised over the race by the Author of his being, as produces +progress; and we have not, so far as we yet perceive, any reason for +supposing that He exercises a like guidance and government over any of +the other bodies with which the researches of astronomers have made us +acquainted. The earth and its inhabitants are under the care of God in a +special manner; and we are utterly destitute of any reason for believing +that other planets and other systems are under the care of God in the +same manner. If we regarded merely the existence of unprogressive races +of animals upon our globe, we might easily suppose that other globes +also are similarly tenanted; and we might infer, that the Creator and +Upholder of animal life was active on those globes, in the same manner +as upon ours. But when we come to a progressive creature, whose +condition implies a beginning, and therefore suggests an end, we form a +peculiar judgment with respect to God's care of that creature, which we +have not as yet seen the slightest grounds to extend to other possible +fields of existence, where we discern no indication of progress, of +beginning, or of end. So far as we can judge, God is mindful of man, and +has launched and guided his course in a certain path which makes his lot +and state different from that of all other creatures.</p> + +<p>8. Now when we have arrived at this result, we have, I conceive, reached +one of the points at which the difficulties which astronomical discovery +puts in the way of religious conviction <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>begin to appear. The Earth and +its human inhabitants are, as far as we yet know, in an especial manner +the subjects of God's care and government, for the race is progressive. +Now can this be? Is it not difficult to believe that it is so? The +earth, so small a speck, only one among so many, so many thousands, so +many millions of other bodies, all, probably, of the same nature with +itself, wherefore should it draw to it the special regards of the +Creator of all, and occupy his care in an especial manner? The teaching +of the history of the human race, as intellectually progressive, agrees +with the teaching of Religion, in impressing upon us that God is mindful +of man; that he does regard him; but still, there naturally arises in +our minds a feeling of perplexity and bewilderment, which expresses +itself in the words already so often quoted, What is man, that this +should be so? Can it be true that this province is thus singled out for +a special and peculiar administration by the Lord of the Universal +Empire?</p> + +<p>9. Before I make any attempt to answer these questions, I must pursue +the difficulty somewhat further, and look at it in other forms. As I +have said, the history of Man has been, in certain nations, a history of +intellectual progress, from the earliest times up to our own day. But +intellectual progress has been, as I have also said, in a great measure +confined to certain nations thus especially favored. The greater part of +the earth's inhabitants have shared very scantily in that wealth of +knowledge to which the brightest and happiest intellects among men have +thus been led. But though the bulk of mankind have thus had little share +in the grand treasures of science which are open to the race, their life +has still been very different from that of other animals. Many nations, +though they may not have been conspicuous in the history of intellectual +progress, have yet not been without their place in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>progress of other +kinds—in arts, in arms, and, above all, in morals—in the recognition +of the distinction of right and wrong in human actions, and in the +practical application of this distinction. Such a progress as this has +been far more extensively aimed at, than a progress in abstract and +general knowledge; and, we may venture to say, has been, in many nations +and in a very great measure, really effected. No doubt the imperfection +of this progress, and the constant recurrence of events which appear to +counteract and reverse it, are so obvious and so common as to fill with +grief and indignation the minds of those who regard such a progress as +the great business of the human race; but yet still, looking at the +whole history of the human race, the progress is visible; and even the +grief and the indignation of which we have spoken are a part of its +evidences. There has been, upon the whole, a moral government of the +human race. The moral law, the distinction of right and wrong, has been +established in every nation; and penalties have been established for +wrong-doing. The notion of right and wrong has been extended, from mere +outward acts, to the springs of action, to affection, desire, and will. +The course of human affairs has generally been such, that the just, the +truthful, the kind, the chaste, the orderly portion of mankind have been +happier than the violent and wicked. External wrong has been commonly +punished by the act of human society. Internal sins, impure and +dishonest designs, falsehood, cruelty, have very often led to their own +punishment, by their effect upon the guilty mind itself. We do not say +that the moral government which has prevailed among men has been such, +that we can consider it complete and final in its visible form. We see +that the aspect of things is much the contrary; and we think we see +reasons why it may be expected to be so. But still, there has existed +upon earth a moral <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>government of the human race, exercised, as we must +needs hold, by the Creator of man; partly through the direct operation +of man's faculties, affections, and emotions; and partly through the +authorities which, in all ages and nations, the nature of man has led +him to establish. Now this moral progress and moral government of the +human race is one of the leading facts on which Natural Religion is +founded. We are thus led to regard God as the Moral Governor of man; not +only his Creator and Preserver, but his Lawgiver and his Judge. And the +grounds on which we entertain this belief are peculiarly the human +faculties of man, and their operation in history and in society. The +belief is derived from the whole complex nature of man—the working of +his Affections, Desires, Convictions, Reason, Conscience, and whatever +else enters into the production of human action and its consequences. +God is seen to be the Moral Governor of man by evidence which is +especially derived from the character of Man, and which we could not +attempt to apply to any other creature than man without making our words +altogether unmeaning. But would it not be too bold an assumption to +speak of the Conscience of an inhabitant of Jupiter? Would it not be a +rash philosophy to assume the operation of Remorse or Self-approval on +the planet, in order that we may extend to it the moral government of +God? Except we can point out something more solid than this to reason +from, on such subjects, there is no use in our attempting to reason at +all. Our doctrines must be mere results of invention and imagination. +Here then, again, we are brought to the conviction that God is, so far +as we yet see, in an especial and peculiar manner, the Governor of the +earth and of its human inhabitants, in such a way that the like +government cannot be conceived to be extended to other planets, and +other systems, without arbitrary and fanciful assumptions; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>assumptions +either of unintelligible differences with incomprehensible results, or +of beings in all respects human, inhabiting the most remote regions of +the universe. And here, again, therefore, we are led to the same +difficulty which we have already encountered: Can the earth, a small +globe among so many millions, have been selected as the scene of this +especially Divine Government?</p> + +<p>10. That when we attempt to extend our sympathies to the inhabitants of +other planets and other worlds, and to regard them as living, like us, +under a moral government, we are driven to suppose them to be, in all +essential respects, human beings like ourselves, we have proof, in all +the attempts which have been made, with whatever license of hypothesis +and fancy, to present to us descriptions and representations of the +inhabitants of other parts of the universe. Such representations, though +purposely made as unlike human beings as the imagination of man can +frame them, still are merely combinations, slightly varied, of the +elements of human being; and thus show us that not only our reason, but +even our imagination, cannot conceive creatures subjected to the same +government to which man is subjected, without conceiving them as being +men of one kind or other. A mere animal life, with no interest but +animal enjoyment, we may conceive as assuming forms different from those +which appear in existing animal races; though even here, there are, as +we shall hereafter attempt to show, certain general principles which run +through all animal life. But when in addition to mere animal impulses, +we assume or suppose moral and intellectual interests, we conceive them +as the moral and intellectual interests of man. Truth and falsehood, +right and wrong, law and transgression, happiness and misery, reward and +punishment, are the necessary elements of all that can interest us—of +all that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>we can call <i>Government</i>. To transfer these to Jupiter or to +Sirius, is merely to imagine those bodies to be a sort of island of +Formosa, or new Atlantis, or Utopia, or Platonic Polity, or something of +the like kind. The boldest and most resolute attempts to devise some +life different from human life, have not produced anything more +different than romance-writers and political theorists have devised <i>as</i> +a form of human life. And this being so, there is no more wisdom or +philosophy in believing such assemblages of beings to exist in Jupiter +or Sirius, without evidence, than in believing them to exist in the +island of Formosa, with the like absence of evidence.</p> + +<p>11. Any examination of what has been written on this subject would show +that, in speculating about moral and intellectual beings in other +regions of the universe, we merely make them to be men in another place. +With regard to the plants and animals of other planets, fancy has freer +play; but man cannot conceive any moral creature who is not man. Thus +Fontenelle, in his <i>Dialogues on the Plurality of Worlds</i>, makes the +inhabitants of Venus possess, in an exaggerated degree, the +characteristics of the men of the warm climates of the earth. They are +like the Moors of Grenada; or rather, the Moors of Grenada would be to +them as cold as Greenlanders and Laplanders to us. And the inhabitants +of Mercury have so much vivacity, that they would pass with us for +insane. "Enfin c'est dans Mercure que sont les Petites-Maisons de +l'Univers." The inhabitants of Jupiter and Saturn are immensely slow and +phlegmatic. And though he and other writers attempt to make these +inhabitants of remote regions in some respects superior to man, telling +us that instead of only five senses, they may have six, or ten, or a +hundred, still these are mere words which convey no meaning; and the +great astronomer Bessel had reason to say, that those who imagined +inhabitants in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>Moon and Planets, supposed them, in spite of all +their protestations, as like to men as one egg to another.<a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>12. But there is one step more, which we still have to make, in order to +bring out this difficulty in its full force. As we have said, the moral +law has been, to a certain extent, established, developed, and enforced +among men. But, as I have also said, looking carefully at the law, and +at the degree of man's obedience to it, and at the operation of the +sanctions by which it is supported, we cannot help seeing, that man's +knowledge of the law is imperfect, his conviction of its authority +feeble, his transgressions habitual, their punishment and consequences +obscure. When, therefore, we regard God, as the Lawgiver and Judge of +man, it will not appear strange to us, that he should have taken some +mode of promulgating his Law, and announcing his Judgments, in addition +to that ordinary operation of the faculties of man, of which we have +spoken. Revealed Religion teaches us that he has done so: that from the +first placing of the race of man upon the earth, it was his purpose to +do so: that by his dealing with the race of man in the earlier times, +and at various intervals, he made preparation for the mission of a +special Messenger, whom, in the fulness of time, he sent upon the earth +in the form of a man; and who both taught men the Law of God in a purer +and clearer form than any in which it had yet been given; and revealed +His purpose, of rewards for obedience, and punishments for disobedience, +to be executed in a state of being to which this human life is only an +introduction; and established the means by which the spirit of man, when +alienated from God by transgression, may be again reconciled to Him. The +arrival of this especial Messenger of Holiness, Judgment, and +Redemption, forms the great event in the history <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>of the earth, +considered in a religious view, as the abode of God's servants. It was +attended with the sufferings and cruel death of the Divine Messenger +thus sent; was preceded by prophetic announcements of his coming; and +the history of the world, for the two thousand years that have since +elapsed, has been in a great measure occupied with the consequences of +that advent. Such a proceeding shows, of course, that God has an +especial care for the race of man. The earth, thus selected as the +theatre of such a scheme of Teaching and of Redemption, cannot, in the +eyes of any one who accepts this Christian faith, be regarded as being +on a level with any other domiciles. It is the Stage of the great Drama +of God's Mercy and Man's Salvation; the Sanctuary of the Universe; the +Holy Land of Creation; the Royal Abode, for a time at least, of the +Eternal King. This being the character which has thus been conferred +upon it, how can we assent to the assertions of Astronomers, when they +tell us that it is only one among millions of similar habitations, not +distinguishable from them, except that it is smaller than most of them +that we can measure; confused and rude in its materials like them? Or if +we believe the Astronomers, will not such a belief lead us to doubt the +truth of the great scheme of Christianity, which thus makes the earth +the scene of a special dispensation.</p> + +<p>13. This is the form in which Chalmers has taken up the argument. This +is the difficulty which he proposes to solve; or rather, (such being as +I have said the mode in which he presents the subject,) the objection +which he proposes to refute. It is the bearing of the Astronomical +discoveries of modern times, not upon the doctrines of Natural Religion, +but upon the scheme of Christianity, which he discusses. And the +question which he supposes his opponent to propound, as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>an objection to +the Christian scheme, is:—How is it consistent with the dignity, the +impartiality, the comprehensiveness, the analogy of God's proceedings, +that he should make so special and pre-eminent a provision for the +salvation of the inhabitants of this Earth, where there are such myriads +of other worlds, all of which may require the like provision, and all of +which have an equal claim to their Creator's care?</p> + +<p>14. The answer which Chalmers gives to this objection, is one drawn, in +the first instance, from our ignorance. He urges that, when the objector +asserts that other worlds may have the like need with our own, of a +special provision for the rescue of their inhabitants from the +consequences of the transgression of God's laws, he is really making an +assertion without the slightest foundation. Not only does Science not +give us any information on such subjects, but the whole spirit of the +scientific procedure, which has led to the knowledge which we possess, +concerning other planets and other systems, is utterly opposed to our +making such assumptions, respecting other worlds, as the objection +involves. Modern Science, in proportion as she is confident when she has +good grounds of proof, however strange may be the doctrines proved, is +not only diffident, but is utterly silent, and abstains even from +guessing, when she has no grounds of proof. Chalmers takes Newton's +reasoning, as offering a special example of this mixed temper, of +courage in following the evidence, and temperance in not advancing when +there is no evidence. He puts, in opposition to this, the example of the +true philosophical temper,—a supposed rash theorist, who should make +unwarranted suppositions and assumptions, concerning matters to which +our scientific evidence does not reach;—the animals and plants, for +instance, which are to be found in the planet Jupiter. No one, he says, +would more utterly reject and condemn <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>such speculations than Newton, +who first rightly explained the motion of Jupiter and of his attendant +satellites, about which Science <i>can</i> pronounce her truths. And thus, +nothing can be more opposite to the real spirit of modern science, and +astronomy in particular, than arguments, such as we have stated, +professing to be drawn from science and from astronomy. Since we know +nothing about the inhabitants of Jupiter, true science requires that we +say and suppose nothing about them; still more requires that we should +not, on the ground of assumptions made with regard to them, and other +supposed groups of living creatures, reject a belief, founded on direct +and positive proofs, such as is the belief in the truths of Natural and +of Revealed Religion.</p> + +<p>15. To this argument of Chalmers, we may not only give our full assent, +but we may venture to suggest, in accordance with what we have already +said, that the argument, when so put, is not stated in all its +legitimate force. The assertion that the inhabitants of Jupiter have the +same need as we have, of a special dispensation for their preservation +from moral ruin, is not only as merely arbitrary an assumption, as any +assertion could be, founded on a supposed knowledge of an analogy +between the botany of Jupiter, and the botany of the earth; but it is a +great deal more so. There may be circumstances which may afford some +reason to believe that something of the nature of vegetables grows on +the surface of Jupiter; for instance, if we find that he is a solid +globe surrounded by an atmosphere, vapor, clouds, showers. But, as we +have already said, there is an immeasurable distance between the +existence of unprogressive tribes of organized creatures, plants, or +even animals, and the existence of a progressive creature, which can +pass through the conditions of receiving, discerning, disobeying, and +obeying a moral law; which can <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>be estranged from God, and then +reconciled to him. To assume, without further proof, that there are, in +Jupiter, creatures of such a nature that these descriptions apply to +them, is a far bolder and more unphilosophical assumption, than any that +the objector could make concerning the botany of Jupiter; and therefore, +the objection thus supposed to be drawn from our supposed knowledge, is +very properly answered by an appeal to our really utter ignorance, as to +the points on which the argument rests.</p> + +<p>16. This appeal to our ignorance is the main feature in Chalmers' +reasonings, so far as the argument on the one side or the other has +reference to science. Chalmers, indeed, pursues the argument into other +fields of speculation. He urges, that not only we have no right to +assume that other worlds require a redemption of the same kind as that +provided for man, but that the very reverse maybe the case. Man maybe +the only transgressor; and this, the only world that needed so great a +provision for its salvation. We read in Scripture, expressions which +imply that other beings, besides man, take an interest in the salvation +of man. May not this be true of the inhabitants of other worlds, if such +inhabitants there be? These speculations he pursues to a considerable +length, with great richness of imagination, and great eloquence. But the +suppositions on which they proceed are too loosely connected with the +results of science, to make it safe for us to dwell upon them here.</p> + +<p>17. I conceive, as I have said, that the argument with which Chalmers +thus deals admits of answers, also drawn from modern science, which to +many persons will seem more complete than that which is thus drawn from +our ignorance. But before I proceed to bring forward these answers, +which will require several steps of explanation, I have one or two +remarks still to make.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p><p>18. Undoubtedly they who believe firmly both that the earth has been +the scene of a Divine Plan for the benefit of man, and also that other +bodies in the universe are inhabited by creatures who may have an +interest in such a Plan, are naturally led to conjectures and +imaginations as to the nature and extent of that interest. The religious +poet, in his Night Thoughts, interrogates the inhabitants of a distant +star, whether their race too has, in its history, events resembling the +fall of man, and the redemption of man.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Enjoy your happy realms their golden age?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And had your Eden an abstemious Eve?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or, if your mother fell are you redeemed?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And if redeemed, is your Redeemer scorned?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And such imaginations may be readily allowed to the preacher or the +poet, to be employed in order to impress upon man the conviction of his +privileges, his thanklessness, his inconsistency, and the like. But +every form in which such reflections can be put shows how intimately +they depend upon the nature and history of man. And when such +reflections are made the source of difficulty or objection in the way of +religious thought, and when these difficulties and objections are +represented as derived from astronomical discoveries, it cannot be +superfluous to inquire whether astronomy has really discovered any +ground for such objections. To some persons it may be more grateful to +remedy one assumption by another: the assumption of moral agents in +other worlds, by the assumption of some operation of the Divine Plan in +other worlds. But since many persons find great difficulty in conceiving +such an operation of the Divine Plan in a satisfactory way; and many +persons also think that to make such unauthorized and fanciful +assumptions with regard to the Divine <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>Plans for the government of God's +creatures is a violation of the humility, submission of mind, and spirit +of reverence which religion requires; it may be useful if we can show +that such assumptions, with regard to the Divine Plans, are called forth +by assumptions equally gratuitous on the other side: that Astronomy no +more reveals to us extra-terrestrial moral agents, than Religion reveals +to us extra-terrestrial Plans of Divine government. Chalmers has spoken +of the <i>rashness</i> of making assumptions on such subjects without proof; +leaving it however, to be supposed, that though astronomy does not +supply proof of intelligent inhabitants of other parts of the universe, +she yet does offer strong analogies in favor of such an opinion. But +such a procedure is more than rash: when astronomical doctrines are +presented in the form in which they have been already laid before the +reader, which is the ordinary and popular mode of apprehending them, the +analogies in favor of "other worlds," are (to say the least) greatly +exaggerated. And by taking into account what astronomy really teaches +us, and what we learn also from other sciences, I shall attempt to +reduce such "analogies" to their true value.</p> + +<p>14. The privileges of man, which make the difficulty in assigning him +his place in the vast scheme of the Universe, we have described as +consisting in his being an <i>intellectual</i>, <i>moral</i>, and <i>religious</i> +creature. Perhaps the privileges implied in the last term, and their +place in our argument, may justify a word more of explanation. Religion +teaches us that there is opened to man, not only a prospect of a life in +the presence of God, after this mortal life, but also the possibility +and the duty of spending this life as in the presence of God. This is +properly the highest result and manifestation of the effect of Religion +upon man. Precisely because it is this, it is difficult to speak of this +effect without seeming to use the language of enthusiasm; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>and yet +again, precisely because it is so, our argument would be incomplete +without a reference to it. There is for man, a possibility and a duty of +bringing his thoughts, purposes, and affections more and more into +continual unison with the will of God. This, even Natural Religion +taught men, was the highest point at which man could aim; and Revealed +Religion has still more clearly enjoined the duty of aiming at such a +condition. The means of a progress towards such a state belong to the +Religion of the heart and mind. They include a constant purification and +elevation of the thoughts, affections, and will, wrought by habits of +religious reflection and meditation, of prayer and gratitude to God. +Without entering into further explanation, all religious persons will +agree that such a progress is, under happy influences, possible for man, +and is the highest condition to which he can attain in this life. +Whatever names may have been applied at different times to the steps of +such a progress;—the cultivation of the divine nature in us; +resignation; devotion; holiness; union with God; living in God, and with +God in us;—religious persons will not doubt that there is a reality of +internal state corresponding to these expressions; and that, to be +capable of elevation into the condition which these expressions +indicate, is one of the especial privileges of man. Man's soul, +considered especially as the subject of God's government, is often +called his <i>Spirit</i>; and that man is capable of such conformity to the +will of God, and approximation to Him, is sometimes expressed by +speaking of him as a <i>spiritual creature</i>. And though the privilege of +being, or of being capable of becoming, in this sense, a spiritual +creature, is a part of man's religious privileges; we may sometimes be +allowed to use this additional expression, in order to remind the +reader, how great those religious privileges are, and how close is the +relation between man and God, which they imply.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p><p>15. We have given a view of the peculiar character of man's condition, +which seem to claim for him a nature and place unique and incapable of +repetition, in the scheme of the universe; and to this view astronomy, +exhibiting to us the habitation of man as only one among many similar +abodes, offers an objection. We are, therefore, now called upon, I +conceive, to proceed to exhibit the answer which a somewhat different +view of modern science suggests to this difficulty or objection.</p> + +<p>For this purpose, we must begin by regarding the Earth in another point +of view, different from that hitherto considered by us.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_3" id="Footnote_1_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_3"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Populäre Vorlesungen über Wissenschaftliche Gegenstände, p. +31.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class="center">GEOLOGY.</p> + + +<p>1. Man, as I trust has been made apparent to the consciousness and +conviction of the reader, is an intelligent, moral, religious, and +spiritual creature; and we have to discuss the difficulty, or +perplexity, or objection, which arises in our minds, when we consider +such a creature as occupying an habitation, which is but one among many +globes apparently equally fitted to be the dwelling-places of living +things—a mere speck in the immensity of creation—an atom among such a +vast array of material structures—a world, as we needs must deem it, +among millions of other objects which appear to have an equal claim to +be regarded as worlds.</p> + +<p>2. The difficulty appears to be great, either way. Can the earth alone +be the theatre of such intelligent, moral, religious, and spiritual +action? On the other hand, can we conceive such action to go on in the +other bodies of the universe? If we take the latter alternative, we must +people other planets and other systems with men such as we are, even as +to their history. For the intellectual and moral condition of man +implies a <i>history</i> of the species; and the view of man's condition +which religion presents, not only involves a scheme of which the history +of the human race is a part, but also asserts a peculiar <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>reference had, +in the provisions of God, to the nature of man; and even a peculiar +relation and connection between the human and the divine nature. To +extend such suppositions to other worlds would be a proceeding so +arbitrary and fanciful, that we are led to consider whether the +alternative supposition may not be more admissible. The alternative +supposition is, that man is, in an especial and eminent manner, the +object of God's care; that his place in the creation is, not that he +merely occupies one among millions of similar domiciles provided in +boundless profusion by the Creator of the Universe, but that he is the +servant, subject, and child of God, in a way unique and peculiar; that +his being a spiritual creature, (including his other attributes in the +highest for the sake of brevity,) makes him belong to a spiritual world, +which is not to be judged of merely by analogies belonging to the +material universe.</p> + +<p>3. Between these two difficulties the choice is embarrassing, and the +decision must be unsatisfactory, except we can find some further ground +of judgment. But perhaps this is not hopeless. We have hitherto referred +to the evidence and analogies supplied by one science, namely, +astronomy. But there are other sciences which give us information +concerning the nature and history of the earth. From some of these, +perhaps, we may obtain some knowledge of the place of the earth in the +scheme of creation—how far it is, in its present condition, a thing +unique, or only one thing among many like it. Any science which supplies +us with evidence or information on this head, will give us aid in +forming a judgment upon the question under our consideration. To such +sciences, then, we will turn our attention.</p> + +<p>One science has employed itself in investigating the nature and history +of the earth by an examination of the materials <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>of which it is +composed; namely, Geology. Let us call to mind some of the results at +which this science has arrived.</p> + +<p>4. A very little attention to what is going on among the materials of +which the earth's surface is composed, suffices to show us that there +are causes of change constantly and effectually at work. The earth's +surface is composed of land and water, hills and valleys, rocks and +rivers. But these features undergo change, and produce change in each +other. The mountain-rivers cut deeper and deeper into the ravines in +which they run; they break up the rocks over which they rush, use the +fragments as implements of further destruction, pile them up in sloping +mounds where the streams issue from the mountains, spread them over the +plains, fill up lakes with sediment, push into the sea great deltas. The +sea batters the cliffs and eats away the land, and again, forms banks +and islands where there had been deep water. Volcanoes pour out streams +of lava, which destroy the vegetation over which they flow, and which +again, after a series of years, are themselves clothed with vegetation. +Earthquakes throw down tracts of land beneath the sea, and elevate other +tracts from the bottom of the ocean. These agencies are everywhere +manifest; and though at a given moment, at a given spot, their effect +may seem to us almost imperceptible, too insignificant to be taken +account of, yet in a long course of years almost every place has +undergone considerable changes. Rivers have altered their courses, lakes +have become plains, coasts have been swept away or have become inland +districts, rich valleys have been ravaged by watery or fiery deluges, +the country has in some way or other assumed a new face. The present +aspect of the earth is in some degree different from what it was a few +thousand years ago.</p> + +<p>5. But yet, in truth, the changes of which we thus speak <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>have not been +very considerable. The forms of countries, the lines of coasts, the +ranges of mountains, the groups of valleys, the courses of rivers, are +much the same now as they were in ancient times. The face of the earth, +since man has had any knowledge of it, may have undergone some change, +but the changeable has borne a small proportion to the permanent. +Changes have taken place, and are taking place, but they do not take +place rapidly. The ancient earth and the modern earth are, in all their +main physical features, identical; and we must go backwards through a +considerably larger interval than that which carries us back to what we +usually term <i>antiquity</i>, before we are led, by the operation of causes +now at work, to an aspect of the earth's surface very different from +that which it now presents.</p> + +<p>6. For instance, rivers do, no doubt, more or less alter, in the course +of years, by natural causes. The Rhine, the Rhone, the Po, the Danube, +have, certainly, during the last four thousand years, silted up their +beds in level places, expanded the deltas at their mouths, changed the +channels by which they enter the sea; and very probably, in their upper +parts, altered the forms of their waterfalls and of their shingle beds. +Yet even if we were thus to go backwards ten thousand, or twenty, or +thirty thousand years, (setting aside great and violent causes of +change, as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the like,) the general +form and course of these rivers, and of the ranges of mountains in which +they flow, would not be different from what it is now. And the same may +be said of coasts and islands, seas and bays. The present geography of +the earth may be, and from all the evidence which we have, must be, very +ancient, according to any measures of antiquity which can apply to human +affairs.</p> + +<p>7. But yet the further examination of the materials of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>earth +carries us to a view beyond this. Though the general forms of the land +and the waters of continents and seas, were, several thousand years ago, +much the same as they now are; yet it was not always so. We have clear +evidence that large tracts which are now dry ground, were formerly the +bed of the ocean; and these, not tracts of the shore, where the varying +warfare of sea and land is still going on, but the very central parts of +great continents; the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas. For not only +are the rocks of which these great mountain-chains consist, of such +structure that they appear to have been formed as layers of sediment at +the bottom of water; but also, these layers contain vast accumulations +of shells, or impressions of shells, and other remains of marine +animals. And these appearances are not few, limited, or partial. The +existence of such marine remains, in the solid substance of continents +and mountains, is a general, predominant, and almost universal fact, in +every part of the earth. Nor is any other way of accounting for this +fact admissible, than that those materials really have, at some time, +formed bottoms of seas. The various other conjectures and hypotheses, +which were put forward on this subject, when the amount, extent, +multiplicity, and coherence of the phenomena were not yet ascertained, +and when their natural history was not yet studied, cannot now be +considered as worthy of the smallest regard. That many of our highest +hills are formed of materials raised from the depths of ocean, is a +proposition which cannot be doubted, by any one, who fairly examines the +evidence which nature offers.</p> + +<p>8. If we take this proposition only, we cannot immediately connect it +with our knowledge respecting the surface of the earth in its present +form. We learn that what is now land, has been sea; and we may suppose +(since it is natural to assume <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>that the bulk of the sea has not much +changed) that what is now sea was formerly land. But, except we can +learn something of the manner in which this change took place, we cannot +make any use of our knowledge. Was the change sudden, or gradual; +abrupt, or successive; brief, or long-continuing?</p> + +<p>9. To these questions, the further study of the facts enables us to +return answers with great confidence. The change or changes which +produced the effects of which we have spoken—the conversion of the +bottom of the ocean into the centre of our greatest continents and +highest mountains,—were undoubtedly gradual, successive, and long +continued. We must state very briefly the grounds on which we make this +assertion.</p> + +<p>10. The masses which form our mountain-chains, offer evidence, as I have +said, that they were deposited as sediment at the bottom of a sea, and +then hardened. They consist of successive layers of such sediment, +making up the whole mass of the mountain. These layers are, of course, +to a certain extent, a measure of the time during which the deposition +of sediment took place. The thicker the mass of sediment, the more +numerous and varied its beds, and the longer period must we suppose to +have been requisite for its formation. Without making any attempt at +accurate or definite estimation, which would be to no purpose, it is +plain that a mass of sedimentary strata five thousand or ten thousand +feet thick, must have required, for its deposit, a long course of years, +or rather, a long course of ages.</p> + +<p>11. But again: on further examination it is found, that we have not +merely one series of sedimentary deposits, thus forming our mountains. +There are a number of different series of such layers or strata, to be +found in different ranges <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>of hills, and in the same range, one series +resting upon another. These different series of strata are +distinguishable from one another by their general structure and +appearance, besides more intimate characters, of which we shall shortly +have to speak. Each such series appears to have a certain consistency of +structure within itself; the layers of which it is composed being more +or less parallel, but the successive series are not thus always +parallel, the lower ones being often highly inclined and irregular, +while the upper ones are more level and continuous: as if the lower +strata had been broken up and thrown into disorder, and then a new +series of strata had been deposited horizontally on their fragments. But +in whatever way these different sedimentary series succeeded each other, +each series must have required, as we have seen, a long period for its +formation; and to estimate the length of the interval between the two +series, we have, at the present stage of our exposition, no evidence.</p> + +<p>12. But the mechanical structure of the strata, the result, as it seems, +of aqueous sedimentary deposit, is not the only, nor the most important +evidence, with regard to the length of time occupied by the formation of +the rocky layers which now compose our mountains. As we have said, they +contain shells, and other remains of creatures which live in the sea. +These they contain, not in small numbers, scattered and detached, but in +vast abundance, as they are found in those parts of the ocean which is +most alive with them. There are the remains of oysters and other +shell-fish in layers, as they live at present in the seas near our +shores; of corals, in vast patches and beds, as they now occur in the +waters of the Pacific; of shoals of fishes, of many different kinds, in +immense abundance. Each of these beds of shells, of corals, and of +fishes, must have required many years, perhaps many centuries, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>for the +growth of the successive individuals and successive generations of which +it consists: as long a time, perhaps, as the present inhabitants of the +sea have lived therein: or many times longer, if there have been many +such successive changes. And thus, while the present condition of the +earth extends backwards to a period of vast but unknown antiquity; we +have, offered to our notice, the evidence of a series of other periods, +each of which, so far as we can judge, may have been as long or longer +than that during which the dry land has had its present form.</p> + +<p>13. But the most remarkable feature in the evidence is yet to come. We +have spoken in general of the oysters, and corals, and fishes, which +occur in the strata of our hills; as if they were creatures of the same +kinds which we now designate by those names. But a more exact +examination of these remains of organized beings, shows that this is not +so. The tribes of animals which are found petrified in our rocks are +almost all different, so far as our best natural historians can +determine, from those which now live in our existing seas. They are +different species; different genera. The creatures which we find thus +embedded in our mountains, are not only dead as individuals, but extinct +as species. They belonged, not only to a terrestrial period, but to an +animal creation, which is now past away. The earth is, it seems, a +domicile which has outlasted more than one race of tenants.</p> + +<p>14. It may seem rash and presumptuous in the natural historian to +pronounce thus peremptorily that certain forms of life are nowhere to be +found at present, even in the unfathomable and inaccessible depths of +the ocean. But even if this were so, the proposition that the earth has +changed its inhabitants, since the rocks were formed, of which our hills +consist, does not depend for its proof on this assumption. For in the +organic <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>bodies which our strata contain, we find remains, not only of +marine animals, but of animals which inhabit the fresh waters, and the +land, and of plants. And the examination of such remains having been +pursued with great zeal, and with all the aids which natural history can +supply, the result has been, the proofs of a vast series of different +tribes of animals and plants, which have successively occupied the earth +and the seas; and of which the number, variety, multiplicity, and +strangeness, exceed, by far, everything which could have been previously +imagined. Thus Cuvier found, in the limestone strata on which Paris +stands, animals of the most curious forms, combining in the most +wonderful manner the qualities of different species of existing +quadrupeds. In another series of strata, the Lias, which runs as a band +across England from N. E. to S. W., we have the remains of lizards, or +lacertine animals, different from those which now exist, of immense size +and of extraordinary structure, some approaching to the form of fishes +(<i>ichthyosaurus</i>); others, with the neck of a serpent; others with +wings, like the fabled forms of dragons. Then beyond these, that is, +anterior to them in the series of time, we have the immense collection +of fossil plants, which occur in the Coal Strata; the shells and corals +of the Mountain Limestone; the peculiar fishes, different altogether +from existing fishes, of the Old Red Sandstone; and though, as we +descend lower and lower, the traces of organic life appear to be more +rare and more limited in kind, yet still we have, beneath these, in +slates and in beds of limestone, many fossil remains, still differing +from those which occur in the higher, and therefore, newer strata.</p> + +<p>15. We have no intention of instituting any definite calculation with +regard to the periods of time which this succession of forms of organic +life may have occupied. This, indeed, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>boldest geological +speculators have not ventured to do. But the scientific discoveries thus +made, have a bearing upon the analogies of creation, quite as important +as the discoveries of astronomy. And therefore we may state briefly some +of the divisions of the series of terrestrial strata which have +suggested themselves to geological inquirers. At the outset of such +speculations, it was conceived that the lower rocks, composed of +granite, slate, and the like, had existed before the earth was peopled +with living things; and that these, being broken up into inclined +positions, there were deposited upon them, as the sediment of +superincumbent waters, strata more horizontal, containing organic +remains. The former were then called <i>Primitive</i> or <i>Primary</i>, the +latter, <i>Secondary</i> rocks. But it was soon found that this was too +sweeping and peremptory a division. Rocks which had been classed as +Primary, were found to contain traces of life; and hence, an +intermediate class of <i>Transition</i> strata was spoken of. But this too +was soon seen to be too narrow a scheme of arrangement, to take in the +rapidly-accumulating mass of facts, organic and others, which the +geological record of the earth's history disclosed. It appeared that +among the fossil-bearing strata there might be discerned a long series +of Formations: the term <i>Formation</i> being used to imply a collection of +successive strata, which, taking into account all the evidence, of +materials, position, relations, and organic remains, appears to have +been deposited during some one epoch or period; so as to form a natural +group, chronologically and physiologically distinct from the others. In +this way it appeared that, taking as the highest part of the Secondary +series, the beds of chalk, which, marked by characteristic fossils, run +through great tracts of Europe, with other beds, of sand and clay, which +generally accompany these; there was, below this <i>Cretaceous Formation</i>, +an <i>Oolitic Formation</i>, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>still more largely diffused, and still more +abundant in its peculiar organic remains. Below this, we have, in +England, the <i>New Red Sandstone Formation</i>, which, in other countries, +is accompanied by beds abundant in fossils, as the <i>Muschelkalk</i> of +Germany. Below this again we have the <i>Coal Formation</i>, and the +<i>Mountain Limestone</i>, with their peculiar fossils. Below these, we have +the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian System, with its peculiar fishes and +other fossils. Beneath these, occur still numerous series of +distinguishable strata; which have been arranged by Sir Roderick +Murchison as the members of the <i>Silurian</i> formation; the researches by +which it was established having been carried on, in the first place, in +South Wales, the ancient country of the Silures. Including the lower +part of this formation, and descending still lower in order, is the +<i>Cambrian</i> formation of Professor Sedgwick. And since the races of +organic beings, as we thus descend through successive strata, seem to be +fewer and fewer in their general types, till at last they disappear; +these lower members of the geological series have been termed, according +to their succession, <i>Palæozoic</i>, <i>Protozoic</i>, and <i>Hypozoic</i> or +<i>Azoic</i>. The general impression on the minds of geologists has been, +that, as we descend in this long staircase of natural steps, we are +brought in view of a state of the earth in which life was scantily +manifested, so as to appear to be near its earliest stages.</p> + +<p>16. Each of these formations is of great thickness. Several of the +members of each formation are hundreds, many of them thousands of feet +thick. Taken altogether, they afford an astounding record of the time +during which they must have been accumulating, and during which these +successive groups of animals must have been brought into being, lived, +and continued their kinds.</p> + +<p>17. We must add, that over the Secondary strata there are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>found, in +patches, generally of more limited extent, another, and of course, newer +mass of strata, which have been termed <i>Tertiary Formations</i>. Of these, +the strata, near and under Paris, lying in a hollow of the subjacent +strata, and hence termed the <i>Paris Basin</i>, attracted prominent notice +in the first place. And these are found to contain an immense quantity +of remains of animals, which, being well preserved, and being subjected +to a careful and scientific scrutiny by the great naturalist George +Cuvier, had an eminent share in establishing in the minds of Geologists +the belief of the extinct character of fossil species, and of the +possibility of reconstructing, from such remains, the animals, different +from those which now live, which had formerly tenanted the earth.</p> + +<p>18. We have, in this enumeration, a series of groups of strata, each of +which, speaking in a general way, has its own population of animals and +plants, and is separated, by the peculiarities of these, from the groups +below and above it. Each group may, in a general manner, be considered +as a separate creation of animal and vegetable forms—creatures which +have lived and died, as the races now existing upon the earth live and +die; and of which the living existence may, and according to all +appearance must, have occupied ages, and series of ages, such as have +been occupied by the present living generations of the earth. This +series of creations, or of successive periods of life, is, no doubt, a +very striking and startling fact, very different from anything which the +imagination of man, in previous stages of investigation of the earth's +condition, had conceived; but still, is established by evidence so +complete, drawn from an examination and knowledge of the structures of +living things so exact and careful, as to leave no doubt whatever of the +reality of the fact, on the minds of those who have attended to the +evidence; founded, as it is, upon the analogies, offices, anatomy, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>and +combinations of organic structures. The progress of human knowledge on +this subject has been carried on and established by the same +alternations of bold conjectures and felicitous confirmations of +them,—of minute researches and large generalizations,—which have given +reality and solidity to the other most certain portions of human +knowledge. That the strata of the earth, as we descend from the highest +to the lowest, are distinguished in general by characteristic or organic +fossils, and that these forms of organization are different from those +which now live on the earth, are truths as clearly and indisputably +established in the minds of those who have the requisite knowledge of +geology and natural history, as that the planets revolve round the sun, +and satellites round the planets. That these epochs of creation are +something quite different from anything which we now see taking place on +the earth, no more disturbs the belief of those facts, which scientific +explorers entertain, than the seemingly obvious difference between the +nebulæ which are regarded as yet unformed planetary systems, and the +solar system to which our earth belongs, disturbs the belief of +astronomers, that such nebulæ, as well as our system, really exist. +Indeed we may say, as we shall hereafter see, that the fact of our earth +having passed through the series of periods of organic life which +geologists recognize, is, hitherto, incomparably better established, +than the fact that the nebulæ, or any of them, are passing through a +series of changes, such as may lead to a system like ours; as some +eminent astronomers in modern times have held. In this respect, the +history of the world, and its place in the universe, are far more +clearly learnt from geology than from astronomy.</p> + +<p>19. But with regard to this series of Organic <i>Creations</i>, if, for the +sake of brevity, we may call them so; we may naturally ask, in what +manner, by what agencies, at what intervals, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>they succeeded each other +on the earth? Now, do the researches of geologists give us any +information on these points, which may be brought to bear upon our +present speculations? If we ask these questions, we receive, from +different classes of geologists, different answers. A little while ago, +most geologists held, probably the greater number still hold, that the +transitions from one of these periods of organic life to another, were +accompanied generally by seasons of violent disruption and mutation of +the surface of the earth, exceeding anything which has taken place since +the surface assumed its present general form; in the same proportion as +the changes of its organic population go beyond any such changes which +we can discern to be at present in operation. And there were found to be +changes of other kinds, which seemed to show that these epochs of +organic transition had also been epochs of mechanical violence, upon a +vast and wonderful scale. It appeared that, at some of these epochs at +least, the strata previously deposited, as if in comparative +tranquillity, had been broken, thrust up from below, or drawn or cast +downwards; so that strata which must at first have been nearly level, +were thrown into positions highly inclined, fractured, set on edge, +contorted, even inverted. Over the broken edges of these strata, thus +disturbed and fractured, were found vast accumulations of the fragments +which such rude treatment might naturally produce; these fragmentary +ruins being spread in beds comparatively level, over the bristling edges +of the subjacent rocks, as if deposited in the fluid which had +overwhelmed the previous structure; and with few or no traces of life +appearing in this mass of ruins; while, in the strata which lay over +them, and which appeared to have been the result of quieter times, new +forms of organic life made their appearance in vast abundance. Such is, +for example, the relation of the coal <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>strata in a great part of +England; broken into innumerable basins, ridges, valleys, strips, and +shreds, lying in all positions; and then filled into a sort of level, by +the conglomerate of the magnesian limestone, and the superincumbent red +sandstone and oolites. In other cases it appeared as if there were the +means of tracing, in these dislocations, the agency of igneous stony +matter, which had been injected from below, so as to form +mountain-chains, or the cores of such; and in which the period of the +convulsion could be traced, by the strata to which the disturbance +extended; <i>those</i> strata being supposed to have been deposited before +the eruption, which were thrust upwards by it into highly-inclined +positions; while those strata which, though near to these scenes of +mechanical violence, were still comparatively horizontal, as they had +been originally deposited, were naturally inferred to have been formed +in the waters, after the catastrophe had passed away. By such reasonings +as these, M. Elie de Beaumont has conceived that he can ascertain the +relative ages (according to the vast and loose measurements of age which +belong to this subject) of the principal ranges of mountains of the +earth's surface.</p> + +<p>20. Such estimations of age can, indeed, as we have intimated, be only +of the widest and loosest kind; yet they all concur in assigning very +great and gigantic periods of time, as having been occupied by the +events which have formed the earth's strata, and brought them into their +present position. For not only must there have been long ages employed, +as we have said, while the successive generations of each group of +animals lived, and died, and were entombed in the abraded fragments of +the then existing earth; but the other operations which intervened +between these apparently more tranquil processes, must also have +occupied, it would seem, long ages at each interval. The dislocation, +disruption, and contortion <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>of the vast masses of previously existing +mountains, by which their framework was broken up, and its ruins covered +with beds of its own rubbish, many thousand feet thick, and gradually +becoming less coarse and smoother, as the higher beds were deposited +upon the lower, could hardly take place, it would seem, except in +hundreds and thousands of years. And then again, all these processes of +deposition, thus arranging loose masses of material into level beds, +must have taken place in the bottom of deep oceans; and the beds of +these oceans must have been elevated into the position of mountain +ridges which they now occupy, by some mighty operation of nature, which +must have been comparatively tranquil, since it has not much disturbed +those more level beds; and which, therefore, must have been +comparatively long continued. If we accept, as so many eminent +geologists have done, this evidence of a vast series of successive +periods of alternate violence and repose, we must assign to each such +period a duration which cannot but be immense, compared with the periods +of time with which we are commonly conversant. In the periods of +comparative quiet, such as now exist on the earth's surface, and such as +seem to be alone consistent with continued life and successive +generation, deposits at the bottom of lakes and seas take place, it +would seem, only at the rate of a few feet in a year, or perhaps, in a +century. When, therefore, we find strata, bearing evidence of such a +mode of deposit, and piled up to the amount of thousands and tens of +thousands of feet, we are naturally led to regard them as the production +of myriads of years; and to add new myriads, as often as, in the +prosecution of geological research, we are brought to new masses of +strata of the like kind; and again, to interpolate new periods of the +same order, to allow for the transition from one such group to another.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p><p>21. Nor is there anything which need startle us, in the necessity of +assuming such vast intervals of time, when we have once brought +ourselves to deal with the question of the antiquity of the earth upon +scientific evidence alone. For if geology thus carries us far backwards +through thousands, it may be, millions of years, astronomy does not +offer the smallest argument to check this regressive supposition. On the +contrary, all the most subtle and profound investigations of astronomers +have led them to the conviction, that the motions of the earth may have +gone on, as they now go on, for an indefinite period of past time. There +is no tendency to derangement in the mechanism of the solar system, so +for as science has explored it. Minute inequalities in the movements +exist, too small to produce any perceptible effect on the condition of +the earth's surface; and even these inequalities, after growing up +through long cycles of ages, to an amount barely capable of being +detected by astronomical scrutiny, reach a maximum; and, diminishing by +the same slow degrees by which they increased, correct themselves, and +disappear. The solar system, and the earth as part of it, constitute, so +for as we can discover, a Perpetual Motion.</p> + +<p>22. There is therefore nothing, in what we know of the Cosmical +conditions of our globe, to contradict the Terrestrial evidence for its +vast antiquity, as the seat of organic life. If for the sake of giving +definiteness to our notions, we were to assume that the numbers which +express the antiquity of these four Periods;—the Present organic +condition of the earth; the Tertiary Period of geologists, which +preceded that; the Secondary Period, which was anterior to that; and the +Primary Period which preceded the Secondary; were on the same scale as +the numbers which express these four magnitudes:—the magnitude of the +Earth; that of the Solar System compared <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>with the Earth; the distance +of the nearest Fixed Stars compared with the solar system; and the +distance of the most remote Nebulæ compared with the nearest fixed +stars; there is, in the evidence which geological science offers, +nothing to contradict such an assumption.</p> + +<p>23. And as the infinite extent which we necessarily ascribe to space, +allows us to find room, without any mental difficulty, for the vast +distances which astronomy reveals, and even leaves us rather embarrassed +with the infinite extent which lies beyond our farthest explorations; so +the infinite duration which we, in like manner, necessarily ascribe to +past time, makes it easy for us, so far as our powers of intellect are +concerned, to go millions of millions of years backwards, in order to +trace the beginning of the earth's existence,—the first step of +terrestrial creation. It is as easy for the mind of man to reason +respecting a system which is billions or trillions of miles in extent, +and has endured through the like number of years, or centuries, as it is +to reason about a system (the earth, for instance,) which is forty +million feet in extent, and has endured for a hundred thousand million +of seconds, that is, a few thousand years.</p> + +<p>24. This statement is amply sufficient for the argument which we have to +found upon it; but before I proceed to do that, I will give another view +which has recently been adopted by some geologists, of the mode in which +the successive periods of creation, which geological research discloses +to us, have passed into one another. According to this new view, we find +no sufficient reason to believe that the history of the earth, as read +by us in the organic and mechanical phenomena of its superficial parts, +has consisted of such an alternation of periods of violence and of +repose, as we have just attempted to describe. According to these +theorists, strata have succeeded <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>strata, one group of animals and +plants has followed another, through a season of uniform change; with no +greater paroxysm or catastrophe, it may be, than has occurred during the +time that man has been an observer of the earth. It may be asked, how is +this consistent with the phenomena which we have described;—with the +vast masses of ruin, which mark the end of one period and the beginning +of another, as is the case in passing from the coal measures of England +to the superincumbent beds;—with the highly-inclined strata of the +central masses, and the level beds of the upper formations which have +been described as marking the mountain ranges of Europe? To these +questions, a reply is furnished, we are told, by a more extensive and +careful examination of the strata. It may be, that in certain +localities, in certain districts, the transition, from the mountain +limestone and the coal, to the superjacent sandstones and oolites, is +abrupt and seemingly violent; marked by <i>unconformable</i> positions of the +upper upon the lower strata, by beds of conglomerate, by the absence of +organic remains in certain of these beds. But if we follow these very +strata into other parts of the world, or even into other parts of this +island, we find that this abruptness and incongruity between the lower +and the higher strata disappears. Between the mountain-limestone and the +red sandstone which lies over it, certain new beds are found, which fill +up the incoherent interval; which offer the same evidence as the strata +below and above them, of having been produced tranquilly; and which do +not violently differ in position from either group. The appearance of +incoherence in the series arose from the occurrence, in the region first +examined, of a gap, which is here filled up,—a blank which is here +supplied. Hence it is inferred, that whatever of violence and extreme +disturbance is indicated by the dislocations and ruins there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>observed, +was local and partial only; and that, at the very time when these +fragmentary beds, void of organized beings, were forming in one place, +there were, at the same time, going on, in another part of the earth's +surface, not far removed, the processes of the life, death and imbedding +of species, as tranquilly as at any other period. And the same assertion +is made with regard to the more general fact, before described, of the +stratigraphical constitution of mountain chains. It is asserted that the +unconformable relation of the strata which compose the different parts +of those chains, is a local occurrence only; and that the same strata, +if followed into other regions, are found conformable to each other; or +are reduced to a virtually continuous scheme, by the interpolation of +other strata, which make a transition, in which no evidence of +exceptional violence appears.</p> + +<p>25. We shall not attempt (it is not at all necessary for us to do so) to +decide between the doctrines of the two geological schools which thus +stand in this opposition to each other. But it will be useful to our +argument to state somewhat further the opinions of this latter school on +one main point. We must explain the view which these geologists take of +the mode of succession of one group of <i>organized</i> beings to another; by +which, as we have said, the different successive strata are +characterized. Such a phenomenon, it would at first seem, cannot be +brought within the ordinary rules of the existing state of things. The +species of plants and animals which inhabit the earth, do not change +from age to age; they are the same in modern times, as they were in the +most remote antiquity, of which we have any record. The dogs and horses, +sheep and cattle, lions and wolves, eagles and swallows, corn and vines, +oaks and cedars, which occupy the earth now, are not, we have the +strongest reasons to believe, essentially different <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>now from what they +were in the earliest ages. At least, if one or two species have +disappeared, no new species have come into existence. We cannot conceive +a greater violation of the known laws of nature, than that such an event +as the appearance of a new species should have occurred. Even those who +hold the uniformity of the mechanical changes of the earth, and of the +rate of change, from age to age, and from one geological period to +another; must still, it would seem, allow that the zoological and +phytological changes of which geology gives her testimony, are complete +exceptions to what is now taking place. The formation of strata at the +bottom of the ocean from the ruin of existing continents, may be going +on at present. Even the elevation of the bed of the ocean in certain +places, as a process imperceptibly slow, may be in action at this +moment, as these theorists hold that it is. But still, even when the +beds thus formed are elevated into mountain chains, if that should +happen, in the course of myriads of years, (according to the supposition +it cannot be effected in a less period,) the strata of such mountain +chains will still contain only the species of such creatures as now +inhabit the waters; and we shall have, even then, no succession of +organic epochs, such as geology discovers in the existing mountains of +the earth.</p> + +<p>26. The answer which is made to this objection appears to me to involve +a license of assumption on the part of the <i>uniformitarian</i> geologist, +(as such theorists have been termed,) which goes quite beyond the bounds +of natural philosophy: but I wish to state it; partly, in order to show +that the most ingenious men, stimulated by the exigencies of a theory, +which requires some hypothesis concerning the succession of species, to +make it coherent and complete, have still found it impossible to bring +the creation of species of plants and animals <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>within the domain of +natural science; and partly, to show how easily and readily geological +theorists are led to assume periods of time, even of a higher order than +those which I have ventured to suggest.</p> + +<p>27. It must, however, be first stated, as a fact on which the assumption +is founded which I have to notice, that the organic groups by which +these successive strata are characterized, are not so distinct and +separate, as it was convenient, for the sake of explanation, to describe +them in the first instance. Although each body of strata is marked by +predominant groups of genera and species, yet it is not true, that all +the species of each formation disappear, when we proceed to the next. +Some species and genera endure through several successive groups of +strata; while others disappear, and new forms come into view, as we +ascend. And thus, the change from one set of organic forms to another, +as we advance in time, is made, not altogether by abrupt transitions, +but in part continuously. The uniformitarian, in the case of organic, as +in the case of mechanical change, obliterates or weakens the evidence of +sudden and catastrophic leaps, by interposing intermediate steps, which +involve, partly the phenomena of the preceding, and partly those of the +subsequent condition. As he allows no universal transition from one +deposit to a succeeding discrepant and unconformable deposit, so he +allows no abrupt and complete transition from one collection of organic +beings,—one creation, as we may call it,—to another. If creation must +needs be an act out of the region of natural science, he will have it to +be at least an act not exercised at distant intervals, and on peculiar +occasions; but constantly going on, and producing its effects, as much +at one time in the geological history of the world, as at another.</p> + +<p>28. And this he holds, not only with regard to the geological <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>periods +which have preceded the existing condition of the earth, but also with +regard to the transition from those previous periods to that in which we +live. The present population of the earth is not one in which all +previous forms are extinct. The past population of the earth was not one +in which there are found no creatures still living. On the contrary, he +finds that there exists a vast mass of strata, superior to the secondary +strata, which are characterized by extinct forms, and are yet inferior +to those deposits which are now going on by the agency of obvious +causes. These masses of strata contain a population of creatures, partly +extinct species, and partly such species as are still living on our land +and in our waters. The proportion in which the old and the new species +occur in such strata, is various; and the strata are so numerous, so +rich in organic remains, so different from each other, and have been so +well explored, that they have been classified and named according to the +proportion of new and of old species which they contain. Those which +contain the largest proportion of species still living, have been termed +<i>Pliocene</i>, as containing a <i>greater</i> number of <i>new</i> or recent species. +Below these, are strata which are termed <i>Miocene</i>, implying a <i>smaller</i> +number of <i>new</i> species. Below these again, are others which have been +termed <i>Eocene</i>, as containing few new species indeed, but yet enough to +mark the <i>dawn</i>, the <i>Eos</i>, of the existing state of the organic world. +These strata are, in many places, of very considerable thickness; and +their number, their succession, and the great amount of extinct species +which they contain, shows, in a manner which cannot be questioned, (if +the evidence of geology is accepted at all,) in what a gradual manner, a +portion at least, of the existing forms of organic life have taken the +place of a different population previously existing on the surface of +the globe.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p><p>29. And thus the uniformitarian is led to consider the facts which +geology brings to light, as indicating a slow and almost imperceptible, +but, upon the whole, constant series of changes, not only in the +position of the earth's materials, but in its animal and vegetable +population. Land becomes sea and sea becomes land; the beds of oceans +are elevated into mountain regions, carrying with them the remains of +their inhabitants; sheets of lava pour from volcanic vents and overwhelm +the seats of life; and these, again, become fields of vegetation; or, it +may be, descend to the depths of the sea, and are overgrown with groves +of coral; lakes are filled with sediment, imbedding the remains of land +animals, and form the museums of future zoologists; the deltas of mighty +rivers become the centres of continents, and are excavated as +coal-fields by men in remote ages. And yet all this time, so slow is the +change, that man is unaware such changes are going on. He knows that the +mountains of Scandinavia are rising out of the Baltic at the rate of a +few feet in a century; he knows that the fertile slope of Etna has been +growing for thousands of years by the addition of lava streams and +parasitic volcanos; he knows that the delta of the Mississippi +accumulates hundreds of miles of vegetable matter every generation; he +knows that the shores of Europe are yielding to the sea; but all these +appear to him minute items, not worth summing; infinitesimal quantities, +which he cannot integrate. And so, in truth, they are, for him. His +ephemeral existence does not allow him to form a just conception, in any +ordinary state of mind, of the effects of this constant agency of +change, working through countless thousands of years. But Time, +inexhausted and unremitting, sums the series, integrates the formula of +change; and thus passes, with sure though noiseless progress, from one +geological epoch to another.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p><p>30. And in the meanwhile, to complete the view thus taken by the +uniformitarian of the geological history of the earth, by some constant +but inscrutable law, creative agency is perpetually at work, to +introduce, into this progressive system of things, new species of +vegetable and animal life. Organic forms, ever and ever new ones, are +brought into being, and left, visible footsteps, as it were, of the +progress which Time has made;—marks placed between the rocky leaves of +the book of creation; by which man, when his time comes, may turn back +and read the past history of his habitation. But the point for us to +remark is, the immeasurable, the inconceivable length of time, if any +length of time could be inconceivable, which is required of our +thoughts, by this new assumption of the constant production of new +species, as a law of creation. We might feel ourselves well nigh +overwhelmed, when, by looking at processes which we see producing only a +few feet of height or breadth or depth during the life of man, we are +called upon to imagine the construction of Alps and Andes,—when we have +to imagine a world made a few inches in a century. But there, at least, +we had <i>something</i> to start from: the element of change was small, but +there <i>was</i> an element of change: we had to expand, but we had not to +originate. But in conceiving that all the myriads of successive species, +which we find in the earth's strata, have come into being by a law which +is now operating, we have <i>nothing</i> to start from. We have seen, and +know of, no such change; all sober and skilful naturalists reject it, as +a fact not belonging to our time. We have here to build a theory without +materials;—to sum a series of which every term, so far as we know, is +nothing;—to introduce into our scientific reasonings an assumption +contrary to all scientific knowledge.</p> + +<p>31. This appears to me to be the real character of the assumption <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>of +the constant creation of new species. But, as I have said, it is not my +business here, to pronounce upon the value or truth of this assumption. +The only use which I wish to make of it is this:—If any persons, who +have adopted the geological view which I have just been explaining, +should feel any interest in the speculations here offered to their +notice, they must needs be (as I have no doubt they will be) even more +willing than other geologists, to grant to our argument a scale of time +for geological succession, corresponding in magnitude to the scale of +distances which astronomy teaches us, as those which measure the +relation of the universe to the earth.</p> + +<p>This being supposed to be granted, I am prepared to proceed with my +argument.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE ARGUMENT FROM GEOLOGY.</p> + + +<p>1. I have endeavored to explain that, according to the discoveries of +geologists, the masses of which the surface of the earth is composed, +exhibit indisputable evidence that, at different successive periods, the +land and the waters which occupy it, have been inhabited by successive +races of plants and animals; which, when taken in large groups, +according to the ascending or descending order of the strata, consist of +species different from those above and below them. Many of these groups +of species are of forms so different from any living things which now +exist, as to give to the life of those ancient periods an aspect +strangely diverse from that which life now displays, and to transfer us, +in thought, to a creation remote in its predominant forms from that +among which we live. I have shown also, that the life and successive +generations of these groups of species, and the events by which the +rocks which contain these remains have been brought into their present +situation and condition, must have occupied immense intervals of +time;—intervals so large that they deserve to be compared, in their +numerical expression, with the intervals of space which separate the +planets and stars from each other. It has been seen, also, that the best +geologists and natural historians <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>have not been able to devise any +hypothesis to account for the successive introduction of these new +species into the earth's population; except the exercise of a series of +acts of creation, by which they have been brought into being; either in +groups at once, or in a perpetual succession of one or a few species, +which the course of long intervals of time might accumulate into groups +of species. It is true, that some speculators have held that by the +agency of natural causes, such as operate upon organic forms, one +species might be transmuted into another; external conditions of +climate, food, and the like, being supposed to conspire with internal +impulses and tendencies, so as to produce this effect. This supposition +is, however, on a more exact examination of the laws of animal life, +found to be destitute of proof; and the doctrine of the successive +creation of species remains firmly established among geologists. That +the <i>extinction</i> of species, and of groups of species, may be accounted +for by natural causes, is a proposition much more plausible, and to a +certain extent, probable; for we have good reason to believe that, even +within the time of human history, some few species have ceased to exist +upon the earth. But whether the extinction of such vast groups of +species as the ancient strata present to our notice, can be accounted +for in this way, at least without assuming the occurrence of great +catastrophes, which must for a time, have destroyed all forms of life in +the district in which they occurred, appears to be more doubtful. The +decision of these questions, however, is not essential to our purpose. +What is important is, that immense numbers of tribes of animals have +tenanted the earth for countless ages, before the present state of +things began to be.</p> + +<p>2. The present state of things is that to which the existence and the +history of <span class="smcap">Man</span> belong; and the remark which I now <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>have to make is, that +the existence and the history of Man are facts of an entirely different +order from any which existed in any of the previous states of the earth; +and that this history has occupied a series of years which, compared +with geological periods, may be regarded as very brief and limited.</p> + +<p>3. The remains of man are nowhere found in the strata which contain the +records of former states of the earth. Skeletons of vast varieties of +creatures have been disinterred from their rocky tombs; but these +cemeteries of nature supply no portion of a human skeleton. In earlier +periods of natural science, when comparative anatomy was as yet very +imperfectly understood, no doubt, many fossil bones were supposed to be +human bones. The remains of giants and of antediluvians were frequent in +museums. But a further knowledge of anatomy has made it appear that such +bones all belong to animals, of one kind or another; often, to animals +utterly different, in their form and skeleton, from man. Also some +bones, really human, have been found petrified in situations in which +petrification has gone on in recent times, and is still going on. Human +skeletons, imbedded in rocks by this process, have been found in the +island of Guadaloupe, and elsewhere. But this phenomenon is easily +distinguishable from the petrified bones of other animals, which are +found in rocks belonging to really geological periods; and does not at +all obliterate the distinction between the geological and the historical +periods.</p> + +<p>4. Indeed not bones only, but objects of art, produced by human +workmanship, are found fossilized and petrified by the like processes; +and these, of course, belong to the historical period. Human bones, and +human works, are found in such deposits as morasses, sand-banks, +lava-streams, mounds of volcanic ashes; and many of them may be of +unknown, and, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>compared with the duration of a few generations, of very +great antiquity; but such deposits are distinguishable, generally +without difficulty, from the strata in which the geologist reads the +records of former creations. It has been truly said, that the geologist +is an <i>Antiquary</i>; for, like the antiquary, he traces a past condition +of things in the remains and effects of it which still subsist; but it +has also been truly said, at the same time, that he is an antiquary <i>of +a new Order</i>; for the remains which he studies are those which +illustrate the history of the earth, not of man. The geologist's +antiquity is not that of ornaments and arms, utensils and habiliments, +walls and mounds; but of species and of genera, of seas and of +mountains. It is true, that the geologist may have to study the works of +man, in order to trace the effects of causes which produce the results +which he investigates; as when he examines the pholad-pierced pillars of +Pateoli, to prove the rise and the fall of the ground on which they +stand; or notes the anchoring-rings in the wall of some Roman edifice, +once a maritime fort, but now a ruin remote from the sea; or when he +remarks the streets in the towns of Scania, which are now below the +level of the Baltic,<a name="FNanchor_1_4" id="FNanchor_1_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_4" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and therefore show that the land has sunk since +these pavements were laid. But in studying such objects, the geologist +considers the hand of man as only one among many agencies. Man is to him +only one of the natural causes of change.</p> + +<p>5. And if, with the illustrious author to whom we have just referred,<a name="FNanchor_2_5" id="FNanchor_2_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_5" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +we liken the fossil remains, by which the geologist determines the age +of his strata, to the Medals and Coins in which the antiquary finds the +record of reigns and dynasties; we must still recollect that a <i>Coin</i> +really discloses a vast body of characteristics of man, to which there +is nothing approaching <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>in the previous condition of the world. For how +much does a Coin or Medal indicate? Property; exchange; government; a +standard of value; the arts of mining, assaying, coining, drawing, and +sculpture; language, writing, and reckoning; historical recollections, +and the wish to be remembered by future ages. All this is involved in +that small human work, a Coin. If the fossil remains of animals may (as +has been said) be termed Medals struck by Nature to record the epochs of +her history; Medals must be said to be, not merely, like fossil remains, +records of material things; they are the records of thought, purpose, +society, long continued, long improved, supplied with multiplied aids +and helps; they are the permanent results, in a minute compass, of a +vast progress, extending through all the ramifications of human life.</p> + +<p>6. Not a coin merely, but any, the rudest work of human art, carries us +far beyond the domain of mere animal life. There is no transition from +man to animals. No doubt, there are races of men very degraded, +barbarous, and brutish. No doubt there are kinds of animals which are +very intelligent and sagacious; and some which are exceedingly disposed +to and adapted to companionship with man. But by elevating the +intelligence of the brute, we do not make it become the intelligence of +the man. By making man barbarous, we do not make him cease to be a man. +Animals have their especial capacities, which may be carried very far, +and may approach near to human sagacity, or may even go beyond it; but +the capacity of man is of a different kind. It is a capacity, not for +becoming sagacious, but for becoming rational; or rather it is a +capacity which he has in virtue of being rational. It is a capacity of +progress. In animals, however sagacious, however well trained, the +progress in skill and knowledge is limited, and very narrowly limited. +The creature soon reaches a boundary, beyond <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>which it cannot pass; and +even if the acquired habits be transmitted by descent to another +generation, (which happens in the case of dogs and several other +animals,) still the race soon comes to a stand in its accomplishments. +But in man, the possible progress from generation to generation, in +intelligence and knowledge, and we may also say, in power, is +indefinite; or if this be doubted, it is at least so vast, that compared +with animals, his capacity is infinite. And this capacity extends to all +races of men its characterizing efficacy: for we have good reason to +believe that there is no race of human beings who may not, by a due +course of culture, continued through generations, be brought into a +community of intelligence and power with the most intelligent and the +most powerful races. This seems to be well established, for instance, +with regard to the African negroes; so long regarded by most, by some +probably regarded still, as a race inferior to Europeans. It has been +found that they are abundantly capable of taking a share in the arts, +literature, morality and religion of European peoples. And we cannot +doubt that, in the same manner, the native Australians, or the Bushmen +of the Cape of Good Hope, have human faculties and human capacities; +however difficult it might be to unfold these, in one or two +generations, into a form of intelligence and civilization in any +considerable degree resembling our own.</p> + +<p>7. It is not requisite for us, and it might lead to unnecessary +difficulties, to fix upon any one attribute of man, as peculiarly +characteristic, and distinguishing him from brutes. Yet it would not be +too much to say that man is, in truth, universally and specifically +characterized by the possession of <i>Language</i>. It will not be questioned +that language, in its highest forms, is a wonderful vehicle and a +striking evidence of the intelligence of man. His bodily organs can, by +a few scarcely <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>perceptible motions, shape the air into sounds which +express the kinds, properties, actions and relations of things, under +thousands of aspects, in forms infinitely more general and recondite +than those in which they present themselves to his senses;—and he can, +by means of these forms, aided by the use of his senses, explore the +boundless regions of space, the far recesses of past time, the order of +nature, the working of the Author of nature. This man does, by the +exercise of his Reason, and by the use of Language, a necessary +implement of his Reason for such purposes.</p> + +<p>8. That language, in such a stage, is a special character of man, will +not be doubted. But it may be thought, there is little resemblance +between Language in this exalted degree of perfection, and the seemingly +senseless gibberish of the most barbarous tribes. Such an opinion, +however, might easily be carried too far. All human language has in it +the elements of indefinite intellectual activity, and the germs of +indefinite development. Even the rudest kind of speech, used by savages, +denotes objects by their kinds, their attributes, their relations, with +a degree of generality derived from the intellect, not from the senses. +The generality may be very limited; the relations which the human +intellect is capable of apprehending may be imperfectly conveyed. But to +denote kinds and attributes and actions and relations <i>at all</i>, is a +beginning of generalization and abstraction;—or rather, is far more +than a beginning. It is the work of a faculty which can generalize and +abstract; and these mental processes once begun, the field of progress +which is open to them is indefinite. Undoubtedly it may happen that weak +and barbarous tribes are, for many generations, so hard pressed by +circumstances, and their faculties so entirely absorbed in providing for +the bare wants of the poorest life, that their thoughts may never travel +to anything <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>beyond these, and their language may not be extended so as +to be applicable to any other purposes. But this is not the standard +condition of mankind. It is not, by such cases, that man, or that human +nature, is to be judged. The normal condition of man is one of an +advance beyond the mere means of subsistence, to the arts of life, and +the exercise of thought in a general form. To some extent, such an +advance has taken place in almost every region of the earth and in every +age.</p> + +<p>9. Perhaps we may often have a tendency to think more meanly than they +deserve, of so-called barbarous tribes, and of those whose intellectual +habits differ much from our own. We may be prone to regard ourselves as +standing at the summit of civilization; and all other nations and ages, +as not only occupying inferior positions, but positions on a slope which +descends till it sinks into the nature of brutes. And yet how little +does an examination of the history of mankind justify this view! The +different stages of civilization, and of intellectual culture, which +have prevailed among them, have had no appearance of belonging to one +single series, in which the cases differed only as higher or lower. On +the contrary, there have been many very different kinds of civilization, +accompanied by different forms of art and of thought; showing how +universally the human mind tends to such habits, and how rich it is in +the modes of manifesting its innate powers. How different have been the +forms of civilization among the Chinese, the Indians, the Egyptians, the +Babylonians, the Mexicans, the Peruvians! Yet in all, how much was +displayed of sagacity and skill, of perseverance and progress, of mental +activity and grasp, of thoughtfulness and power. Are we, in thinking of +these manifestations of human capacity, to think of them as only a stage +between us and brutes? or are we to think so, even of the stoical Red +Indians of North America, or the energetic <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>New Zealanders, and Caffres? +And if not, why of the African Negroes, or the Australians, or the +Bushmen? We may call their Language a jargon. Very probable it would, in +its present form, be unable to express a great deal of what we are in +the habit of putting into language. But can we refuse to believe that, +with regard to matters with which they are familiar, and on occasions +where they are interested, they would be to each other intelligible and +clear? And if we suppose cases in which their affections and emotions +are strongly excited, (and affections and emotions at least we cannot +deny them,) can we not believe that they would be eloquent and +impressive? Do we not know, in fact, that almost all nations which we +call savage, are, on such occasions, eloquent in their own language? And +since this is so, must not their language, after all, be a wonderful +instrument as well as ours? Since it can convey one man's thoughts and +emotions to many, clothed in the form which they assume in his mind; +giving to things, it may be, an aspect quite different from that which +they would have if presented to their own senses; guiding their +conviction, warming their hearts, impelling their purposes;—can +language, even in such cases, be otherwise than a wonderful produce of +man's internal, of his mental, that is, of his peculiarly <i>human</i> +faculties? And is not language, therefore, even in what we regard as its +lowest forms, an endowment which completely separates man from animals +which have no such faculty?—which cannot regard, or which cannot +convey, the impressions of the individual in any such general and +abstract form? Probably we should find, as those who have studied the +language of savages always have found, that every such language contains +a number of curious and subtle practices,—<i>contrivances</i>, we cannot +help calling them,—for marking the relations, bearings and connections +of words; contrivances <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>quite different from those of the languages +which we think of as more perfect; but yet, in the mouths of those who +use such speech, answering their purpose with great precision. But +without going into such details, the use of any <i>articulate</i> language +is, as the oldest Greeks spoke of it, a special and complete distinction +of man as man.</p> + +<p>10. It would be an obscure and useless labor, to speculate upon the +question whether animals have among themselves anything which can +properly be called <i>Language</i>. That they have anything which can be +termed Language, in the sense in which we here speak of it, as admitting +of general expressions, abstractions, address to numbers, eloquence, is +utterly at variance with any interpretation which we can put upon their +proceedings. The broad distinction of Instinct and Reason, however +obscure it may be, yet seems to be most simply described, by saying, +that animals do not apprehend their impressions under general forms, and +that man does. Resemblance, and consequent association of impressions, +may often show like generalization; but yet it is different. There is, +in man's mind, a germ of general thoughts, suggested by resemblances, +which is evolved and fixed in language; and by the aid of such an +addition to the impressions of sense, man has thousands of intellectual +pathways from object to object, from effect to cause, from fact to +inference. His impressions are projected on a sphere of thought of which +the radii can be prolonged into the farthest regions of the universe. +Animals, on the contrary, are shut up in their sphere of +sensation,—passing from one impression to another by various +associations, established by circumstances; but still, having access to +no wider intellectual region, through which lie lines of transition +purely abstract and mental. That they have their modes of communicating +their impressions and associations, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>their affections and emotions, we +know; but these modes of communication do not make a language; nor do +they disturb the assignment of Language as a special character of man; +nor the belief that man differs in his Kind, and we may say, using a +larger phrase, in his Order, from all other creatures.</p> + +<p>11. We may sometimes be led to assign much of the development of man's +peculiar powers, to the influence of external circumstances. And that +the development of those powers is so influenced, we cannot doubt; but +their development only, not their existence. We have already said that +savages, living a precarious and miserable life, occupied incessantly +with providing for their mere bodily wants, are not likely to possess +language, or any other characteristic of humanity, in any but a stunted +and imperfect form. But, that manhood is debased and degraded under such +adverse conditions, does not make man cease to be man. Even from such an +abject race, if a child be taken and brought up among the comforts and +means of development which civilized life supplies, he does not fail to +show that he possesses, perhaps in an eminent degree, the powers which +specially belong to man. The evidences of human tendencies, human +thoughts, human capacities, human affections and sympathies, appear +conspicuously, in cases in which there has been no time for external +circumstances to operate in any great degree, so as to unfold any +difference between the man and the brute; or in which the influence of +the most general of external agencies, the impressions of several of the +senses, have been intercepted. Who that sees a lively child, looking +with eager and curious eyes at every object, uttering cries that express +every variety of elementary human emotion in the most vivacious manner, +exchanging looks and gestures, and inarticulate sounds, with his nurse, +can doubt that already he possesses the germs of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>human feeling, thought +and knowledge? that already, before he can form or understand a single +articulate word, he has within him the materials of an infinite +exuberance of utterance, and an impulse to find the language into which +such utterance is to be moulded by the law of his human nature? And +perhaps it may have happened to others, as it has to me, to know a child +who had been both deaf, dumb, and blind, from a very early age. Yet she, +as years went on, disclosed a perpetually growing sympathy with the +other children of the family in all their actions, with which of course +she could only acquaint herself by the sense of touch. She sat, dressed, +walked, as they did; even imitated them in holding a book in her hand +when they read, and in kneeling when they prayed. No one could look at +the change which came over her sightless countenance, when a known hand +touched hers, and doubt that there was a human soul within the frame. +The human soul seemed not only to be there, but to have been fully +developed; though the means by which it could receive such +communications as generally constitute human education, were thus cut +off. And such modes of communication with her companions as had been +taught her, or as she had herself invented, well bore out the belief, +that her mind was the constant dwelling-place, not only of human +affections, but of human thoughts. So plainly does it appear that human +thought is not produced or occasioned by external circumstances only; +but has a special and indestructible germ in human nature.</p> + +<p>12. I have been endeavoring to illustrate the doctrine that man's nature +is different from the nature of other animals; as subsidiary to the +doctrine that the Human Epoch of the earth's history is different from +all the preceding Epochs. But in truth, this subsidiary proposition is +not by any means necessary <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>to my main purpose. Even if barbarous and +savage tribes, even if men under unfavorable circumstances, be little +better than the brutes, still no one will doubt that the most civilized +races of mankind, that man under the most favorable circumstances, is +far, is, indeed, immeasurably elevated above the brutes. The history of +man includes not only the history of Scythians and Barbarians, +Australians and Negroes, but of ancient Greeks and of modern Europeans; +and therefore there can be no doubt that the period of the Earth's +history, which includes the history of man, is very different indeed +from any period which preceded that. To illustrate the peculiarity, the +elevation, the dignity, the wonderful endowments of man, we might refer +to the achievements, the recorded thoughts and actions, of the most +eminent among those nations;—to their arts, their poetry, their +eloquence; their philosophers, their mathematicians, their astronomers; +to the acts of virtue and devotion, of patriotism, generosity, +obedience, truthfulness, love, which took place among them;—to their +piety, their reverence for the deity, their resignation to his will, +their hope of immortality. Such characteristic traits of man as man, +(which all examples of intelligence, virtue, and religion, are,) might +serve to show that man is, in a sense quite different from other +creatures, "fearfully and wonderfully made;" but I need not go into such +details. It is sufficient for my purpose to sum up the result in the +expressions which I have already used; that man is an intellectual, +moral, religious, and spiritual being.</p> + +<p>13. But the existence of man upon the earth being thus an event of an +order quite different from any previous part of the earth's history, the +question occurs, how long has this state of things endured? What period +has elapsed since this creature, with these high powers and faculties, +was placed upon the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>earth? How far must we go backward in time, to find +the beginning of his wonderful history?—so utterly wonderful compared +with anything which had previously occurred. For as to that point, we +cannot feel any doubt. The wildest imagination cannot suggest that +corals and madrepores, oysters and sepias, fishes and lizards, may have +been rational and moral creatures; nor even those creatures which come +nearer to human organization; megatheriums and mastodons, extinct deer +and elephants. Undoubtedly the earth, till the existence of man, was a +world of mere brute creatures. How long then has it been otherwise? How +long has it been the habitation of a rational, reflective, progressive +race? Can we by any evidence, geological or other, approximate to the +beginning of the Human History?</p> + +<p>14. This is a large and curious question, and one on which a precise +answer may not be within our reach. But an answer not precise, an +approximation, as we have suggested, may suffice for our purpose. If we +can determine, in some measure, the order and scale of the period during +which man has occupied the earth, the determination may serve to support +the analogy which we wish to establish.</p> + +<p>15. The geological evidence with regard to the existence of man is +altogether negative. Previous to the deposits and changes which we can +trace as belonging obviously to the present state of the earth's +surface, and the operation of causes now existing, there is no vestige +of the existence of man, or of his works. As was long ago observed,<a name="FNanchor_3_6" id="FNanchor_3_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_6" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +we do not find, among the shells and bones which are so abundant in the +older strata, any weapons, medals, implements, structures, which speak +to us of the hand of man, the workman. If we look forwards ten or twenty +thousand years, and suppose the existing works <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>of man to have been, by +that time, ruined and covered up by masses of rubbish, inundations, +morasses, lava-streams, earthquakes; still, when the future inhabitant +of the earth digs into and explores these coverings, he will discover +innumerable monuments that man existed so long ago. The materials of +many of his works, and the traces of his own mind, which he stamps upon +them, are as indestructible as the shells and bones which give language +to the oldest work. Indeed, in many cases the oldest fossil remains are +the results of objects of seemingly the most frail and perishable +material;—of the most delicate and tender animal and vegetable tissues +and filaments. That no such remains of textures and forms, moulded by +the hand of man, are anywhere found among these, must be accepted as +indisputable evidence that man did not exist, so as to be contemporary +with the plants and animals thus commemorated. According to geological +evidence, the race of man is a novelty upon the earth;—something which +has succeeded to all the great geological changes.</p> + +<p>16. And in this, almost all geologists are agreed. Even those who hold +that, in other ways, the course of change has been uniform;—that even +the introduction of man, as a new species of animal, is only an event of +the same kind as myriads of like events which have occurred in the +history of the earth;—still allow that the introduction of man, as a +moral being, is an event entirely different from any which had taken +place before; and that event is, geologically speaking, recent. The +changes of which we have spoken, as studied by the geologist in +connection with the works of man, the destruction of buildings on +sea-coasts by the incursions of the ocean, the removal of the shore many +miles away from ancient harbors, the overwhelming of cities by +earthquakes or volcanic eruptions; however great when compared with the +changes which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>take place in one or two generations; are minute and +infinitesimal, when put in comparison with the changes by which ranges +of mountains and continents have been brought into being, one after +another, each of them filled with the remains of different organic +creations.</p> + +<p>17. Further than this, geology does not go on this question. She has no +chronometer which can tell us when the first buildings were erected, +when man first dwelt in cities, first used implements or arms; still +less, language and reflection. Geology is compelled to give over the +question to History. The external evidences of the antiquity of the +species fail us, and we must have recourse to the internal. Nature can +tell us so little of the age of man, that we must inquire what he can +tell us himself.</p> + +<p>18. What man can tell us of his own age—what history can say of the +beginning of history—is necessarily very obscure and imperfect. We know +how difficult it is to trace to its origin the History of any single +Nation: how much more, the History of all Nations! We know that all such +particular histories carry us back to periods of the migrations of +tribes, confused mixtures of populations, perplexed and contradictory +genealogies of races; and as we follow these further and further +backwards, they become more and more obscure and uncertain; at least in +the histories which remain to us of most nations. Still, the obscurity +is not such as to lead us to the conviction that research is useless and +unprofitable. It is an obscurity such as naturally arises from the lapse +of time, and the complexity of the subject. The aspect of the world, +however far we go back, is still historical and human; historical and +human, in as high a degree, as it is at the present day. Men, as +described in the records of the oldest times, are of the same nature, +act with the same views, are governed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>by the same motives, as at +present. At all points, we see thought, purpose, law, religion, +progress. If we do not find a beginning, we find at least evidence that, +in approaching the beginning, the condition of man does not, in any way, +cease to be that of an intellectual, moral, and religious creature.</p> + +<p>19. There are, indeed, some histories which speak to us of the beginning +of man's existence upon earth; and one such history in particular, which +comes to us recommended by indisputable evidence of its own great +antiquity, by numerous and striking confirmations from other histories, +and from facts still current, and by its connection with that religious +view of man's condition, which appears to thoughtful men to be +absolutely requisite to give a meaning and purpose to man's faculties +and endowments. I speak, of course, of the Hebrew Scriptures. This +history professes to inform us how man was placed upon the earth; and +how, from one centre, the human family spread itself in various branches +into all parts of the world. This genealogy of the human race is +accompanied by a chronology, from which it results that the antiquity of +the human race does not exceed a few thousand years. Even if we accept +this history as true and authoritative, it would not be wise to be +rigidly tenacious of the chronology, as to its minute exactness. For, in +the first place, of three different forms in which this history appears, +the chronology is different in all the three: I mean the Hebrew, the +Samaritan, and the Septuagint versions of the Old Testament. And even if +this were not so, since this chronology is put in the form of +genealogies, of which many of the steps may very probably have a meaning +different from the simple succession of generations in a family, (as +some of them certainly have,) it would be unwise to consider ourselves +bound to the exact number of years stated, in any of the three versions, +or even <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>in all. It makes no difference to our argument, nor to any, +purpose in which we can suppose this narrative to have a bearing, +whether we accept six thousand or ten thousand years, or even a longer +period, as the interval which has now elapsed since the creation of man +took place, and the peopling of the earth began.</p> + +<p>20. And, in our speculations at least, it will be well for us to take +into account the view which is given us of the antiquity of the human +race, by other histories as well as by this. A satisfactory result of +such an investigation would be attained if, looking at all these +histories, weighing their value, interpreting their expressions fairly, +discovering their sources of error, and of misrepresentation, we should +find them all converge to one point; all give a consistent and +harmonious view of the earliest stages of man's history; of the times +and places in which he first appeared as man. If all nations of men are +branches of the same family, it cannot but interest us, to find all the +family traditions tending upwards towards the same quarter; indicating a +divergence from the same point; exhibiting a recollection of the +original domicile, or of the same original family circle.</p> + +<p>21. To a certain extent at least, this appears to be the result of the +historical investigations which have been pursued relative to this +subject. A certain group of nations is brought before us by these +researches which, a few thousands of years ago, were possessed of arts, +and manners, and habits, and belief, which make them conspicuous, and +which we can easily believe to have been contemporaneous successors of a +common, though, it may be even then, remote stock. Such are the Jews, +Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. The histories of these nations are +connected with and confirm each other. Their languages, or most of them, +have certain affinities, which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>glossologists, on independent grounds, +have regarded as affinities implying an original connection. Their +chronologies, though in many respects discrepant, are not incapable of +being reduced into an harmony by very probable suppositions. Here we +have a very early view of the condition of a portion of the earth as the +habitation of man, and perhaps a suggestion of a condition earlier +still.</p> + +<p>22. It is true, that there are other nations also, which claim an +antiquity for their civilization equal to or greater than that which we +can ascribe to these. Such are the Indians and the Chinese. But while we +do not question that these nations were at a remote period in possession +of arts, knowledge, and regular polity, in a very eminent degree, we are +not at all called upon to assent to the immense numbers, tens of +thousands and hundreds of thousands of years, by which such nations, in +their histories, express their antiquity. For, in the first place, such +numbers are easily devised and transferred to the obscure early stages +of tradition, when the art of numeration is once become familiar. These +vast intervals, applied to series of blank genealogies, or idle fables, +gratify the popular appetite for numerical wonders, but have little +claim on critical conviction.</p> + +<p>23. And in the next place, we discover that not enumeration only, but a +more recondite art, had a great share in the fabrication of these +gigantic numbers of years. Some of the nations of whom we have thus +spoken, the Indians, for example, had, at an early period, possessed +themselves of a large share of astronomical knowledge. They had observed +and examined the motions of the Sun, the Moon, the Planets, and the +Stars, till they had discovered Cycles, in which, after long and +seemingly irregular wanderings in the skies, the heavenly bodies came +round again to known and regular positions. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>They had thus detected the +order that reigns in the seeming disorder; and had, by this means, +enabled themselves to know beforehand when certain astronomical events +would occur; certain configurations of the Planets, for instance, and +eclipses; and knowing how such events would occur in future, they were +also able to calculate how the like events had occurred in the past. +They could thus determine what eclipses and what planetary +configurations had occurred, in thousands and tens of thousands of years +of past time; and could, if they were disposed to falsify their early +histories, and to confirm the falsification by astronomical evidence, do +so with a very near approximation to astronomical truth. Such +astronomical confirmation of their assertions, so incapable in any +common apprehension of being derived from any other source than actual +observation of the fact, naturally produced a great effect upon common +minds; and still more, on those who examined the astronomical fact, +enough only to see that it was, approximately, at least, true. But in +recent times the fallacy of this evidence has been shown, and the +fabrication detected. For though the astronomical rules which they had +devised were approximately true, they were true approximately only. The +more exact researches of modern European astronomy discovered that their +cycles, though nearly exact, were not quite so. There was in them an +error which made the cycle, at every revolution of its period, when it +was applied to past ages, more and more wrong; so that the astronomical +events which they asserted to have happened, as they had calculated that +they would have happened, the better informed astronomer of our day +knows would not have happened exactly so, but in a manner differing more +and more from their statement, as the event was more and more remote. +And thus the fact which they asserted to have been observed, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>had not +really happened; and the confirmation, which it had been supposed to +lend to their history, disappeared. And thus, there is not, in the +asserted antiquity of Indian civilization and Indian astronomy, anything +which has a well-founded claim to disturb our belief that the nations of +the more western regions of Asia had a civilization as ancient as +theirs. And considerations of nearly the same kind may be applied to the +very remote astronomical facts which are recorded as having been +observed in the history of some others of the ancient nations above +mentioned.</p> + +<p>24. Still less need we be disturbed by the long series of dynasties, +each occupying a large period of years, which the Egyptians are said to +have inserted in their early history, so as to carry their origin beyond +the earliest times which I have mentioned. If they spoke of the Greek +nations as children compared with their own long-continued age, as Plato +says they did, a few thousands of years of previous existence would well +entitle them to do so. So far as such a period goes, their monuments and +their hieroglyphical inscriptions give a reality to their pretensions, +which we may very willingly grant. And even the history of the Jews +supposes that the Egyptians had attained a high point in arts, +government, knowledge, when Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, +was still leading the life of a nomad. But this supposition is not +inconsistent with the account which the Jewish Scriptures give, of the +origin of nations; especially if, as we have said, we abstain from any +rigid and narrow interpretation of the chronology of those scriptures; +as on every ground, it is prudent to do.</p> + +<p>25. It appears then not unreasonable to believe, that a very few +thousands, or even a few hundreds of years before the time of Abraham, +the nations of central and western Asia offer to us the oldest aspect of +the life of man upon the earth; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>and that in reasoning concerning the +antiquity of the human race, we may suppose that at that period, he was +in the earliest stages of his existence. Although, in truth, if we were +to accept the antiquity claimed by the Egyptians, the Indians, or the +Chinese, the nature of our argument would not be materially altered; for +ten thousand, or even twenty thousand years, bears a very small +proportion to the periods of time which geology requires for the +revolutions which she describes; and, as I have said, we have geological +evidence also, to show how brief the human period has been, when +compared with the period which preceded the existence of man. And if +this be so; if such peoples as those who have left to us the monuments +of Egypt and of Assyria, the pyramids and ancient Thebes, the walls of +Nineveh and Babylon, were the first nations which lived as nations; or +if they were separated from such only by the interval by which the +Germans of to-day are separated from the Germans of Tacitus; we may well +repeat our remark, that the history of man, in the earliest times, is as +truly a history of a wonderful, intellectual, social, political, +spiritual creature, as it is at present. We see, in the monuments of +those periods, evidences so great and so full of skill, that even now, +they amaze us, of arts, government, property, thought, the love of +beauty, the recognition of deity; evidences of memory, foresight, power. +If London or Berlin were now destroyed, overwhelmed, and, four thousand +years hence, disinterred, these cities would not afford stronger +testimony of those attributes, as existing in modern Europeans, than we +have of such qualities in the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians. The +history of man, as that of a creature pre-eminent in the creation, is +equally such, however far back we carry our researches.</p> + +<p>26. Nor is there anything to disturb this view, in the fact <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>of the +existence of the uncultured and barbarous tribes which occupy, and +always have occupied, a large portion of the earth's surface. For, in +the first place, there is not, in the aspect of the fact, or in the +information which history gives us, any reason to believe that such +tribes exhibit a form of human existence, which, in the natural order of +progress, is earlier than the forms of civilized life, of which we have +spoken. The opinion that the most savage kind of human life, least +acquainted with arts, and least provided with resources, is the state of +nature out of which civilized life has everywhere gradually emerged, is +an opinion which, though at one time popular, is unsupported by proof, +and contrary to probability.<a name="FNanchor_4_7" id="FNanchor_4_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_7" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> Savage tribes do not so grow into +civilization; their condition is, far more probably, a condition of +civilization degraded and lost, than of civilization incipient and +prospective. Add to this, that if we were to assume that this were +otherwise; if man thus originally and naturally savage, did also +naturally tend to become civilized; this <i>tendency</i> is an endowment no +less wonderful, than those endowments which civilization exhibits. The +capacity is as extraordinary as the developed result; for the capacity +involves the result. If savage man be the germ of the most highly +civilized man, he differs from all other animal germs, as man differs +from brute. And add to this again, that in the tribes which we call +savage, and whose condition most differs, in external circumstances, +from ours, there are, after all, a vast mass of human attributes: +thought, purpose, language, family relations; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>generally property, law, +government, contract, arts, and knowledge, to no small extent; and in +almost every case, religion. Even uncivilized man is an intellectual, +moral, social, religious creature; nor is there, in his condition, any +reason why he may not be a spiritual creature, in the highest sense in +which the most civilized man can be so.</p> + +<p>27. Here then we are brought to the view which, it would seem, offers a +complete reply to the difficulty, which astronomical discoveries +appeared to place in the way of religion:—the difficulty of the opinion +that man, occupying this speck of earth, which is but as an atom in the +Universe, surrounded by millions of other globes, larger, and, to +appearance, nobler than that which he inhabits, should be the object of +the peculiar care and guardianship, of the favor and government, of the +Creator of All, in the way in which Religion teaches us that He is. For +we find that man, (the human race, from its first origin till now,) has +occupied but an atom of time, as he has occupied but an atom of +space:—that as he is surrounded by myriads of globes which may, like +this, be the habitations of living things, so he has been preceded, on +this earth, by myriads of generations of living things, not possibly or +probably only, but certainly; and yet that, comparing his history with +theirs, he has been, certainly has been fitted to be, the object of the +care and guardianship, of the favor and government, of the Master and +Governor of All, in a manner entirely different from anything which it +is possible to believe with regard to the countless generations of brute +creatures which had gone before him. If we will doubt or overlook the +difference between man and brutes, the difficulty of ascribing to man +peculiar privileges, is made as great by the revelations of geology, as +of astronomy. The scale of man's insignificance is, as we have said, of +the same order in reference to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>time, as to space. There is nothing +which at all goes beyond the magnitude which observation and reasoning +suggest for geological periods, in supposing that the tertiary strata +occupied, in their deposition and elevation, a period as much greater +than the period of human history, as the solar system is larger than the +earth:—that the secondary strata were as much longer than these in +their formation, as the nearest fixed star is more distant than the +sun:—that the still earlier masses, call them primary, or protozoic, or +what we will, did, in their production, extend through a period of time +as vast, compared with the secondary period, as the most distant nebula +is remoter than the nearest star. If the earth, as the habitation of +man, is a speck in the midst of an infinity of space, the earth, as the +habitation of man, is also a speck at the end of an infinity of time. If +we are as nothing in the surrounding universe, we are as nothing in the +elapsed eternity; or rather, in the elapsed organic antiquity, during +which the earth has existed and been the abode of life. If man is but +one small family in the midst of innumerable possible households, he is +also but one small family, the successor of innumerable tribes of +animals, not possible only, but actual. If the planets <i>may</i> be the +seats of life, we know that the seas which have given birth to our +mountains <i>were</i> the seats of life. If the stars may have hundreds of +systems of tenanted planets rolling round them, we know that the +secondary group of rocks does contain hundreds of tenanted beds, +witnessing of as many systems of organic creation. If the nebulæ may be +planetary systems in the course of formation, we know that the primary +and transition rocks either show us the earth in the course of +formation, as the future seat of life, or exhibit such life as already +begun.</p> + +<p>28. How far that which astronomy thus asserts as possible, is +probable:—what is the value of these possibilities of life in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>distant +regions of the universe, we shall hereafter consider. But in what +geology asserts, the case is clear. It is no possibility, but a +certainty. No one will now doubt that shells and skeletons, trunks and +leaves, prove animal and vegetable life to have existed. Even, +therefore, if Astronomy could demonstrate all that her most fanciful +disciples assume, Geology would still have a complete right to claim an +equal hearing;—to insist upon having her analogies regarded. She would +have a right to answer the questions of Astronomy, when she says, How +can we believe this? and to have her answers accepted.</p> + +<p>29. Astronomy claims a sort of dignity over all other sciences, from her +<i>antiquity</i>, her <i>certainty</i>, and the <i>vastness</i> of her discoveries. But +the antiquity of astronomy as a science had no share in such +speculations as we are discussing; and if it had had, new truths are +better than old conjectures; new discoveries must rectify old errors; +new answers must remove old difficulties. The vigorous youth of Geology +makes her fearless of the age of Astronomy. And as to the certainty of +Astronomy, it has just as little to do with these speculations. The +certainty stops, just when these speculations begin. There may, indeed, +be some danger of delusion on this subject. Men have been so long +accustomed to look upon astronomical science as the mother of certainty, +that they may confound astronomical discoveries with cosmological +conjectures; though these be slightly and illogically connected with +those. And then, as to the vastness of astronomical +discoveries,—granting that character, inasmuch as it is to a certain +degree, a matter of measurement,—we must observe, that the discoveries +of geology are no less vast: they extend through time, as those of +astronomy do through space. They carry us through millions of years, +that is, of the earth's revolutions, as those of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>astronomy do through +millions of the earth's diameters, or of diameters of the earth's orbit. +Geology fills the regions of duration with events, as astronomy fills +the regions of the universe with objects. She carries us backwards by +the relation of cause and effect, as astronomy carries us upwards by the +relations of geometry. As astronomy steps on from point to point of the +universe by a chain of triangles, so geology steps from epoch to epoch +of the earth's history by a chain of mechanical and organical laws. If +the one depends on the axioms of geometry, the other depends on the +axioms of causation.</p> + +<p>30. So far then, Geology has no need to regard Astronomy as her +superior; and least of all, when they apply themselves together to +speculations like these. But in truth, in such speculations, Geology has +an immeasurable superiority. She has the command of an implement, in +addition to all that Astronomy can use; and one, for the purpose of such +speculations, adapted far beyond any astronomical element of discovery. +She has, for one of her studies,—one of her means of dealing with her +problems,—the knowledge of Life, animal and vegetable. Vital +organization is a subject of attention which has, in modern times, been +forced upon her. It is now one of the main parts of her discipline. The +geologist must study the traces of life in every form; must learn to +decypher its faintest indications and its fullest development. On the +question, then, whether there be in this or that quarter, evidence of +life, he can speak with the confidence derived from familiar knowledge; +while the astronomer, to whom such studies are utterly foreign, because +he has no facts which bear upon them, can offer, on such questions, only +the loosest and most arbitrary conjectures; which, as we have had to +remark, have been rebuked by eminent men, as being altogether +inconsistent with the acknowledged maxims of his science.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p><p>31. When, therefore, Geology tells us that the earth, which has been +the seat of human life for a few thousand years only, has been the seat +of animal life for myriads, it may be, millions of years, she has a +right to offer this, as an answer to any difficulty which Astronomy, or +the readers of astronomical books, may suggest, derived from the +considerations that the Earth, the seat of human life, is but one globe +of a few thousand miles in diameter, among millions of other globes, at +distances millions of times as great.</p> + +<p>32. Let the difficulty be put in any way the objector pleases. Is it +that it is unworthy of the greatness and majesty of God, according to +our conceptions of Him, to bestow such peculiar care on so small a part +of His creation? But we know, from geology, that He has bestowed upon +this small part of His creation, mankind, this special care;—He has +made their period, though only a moment in the ages of animal life, the +only period of intelligence, morality, religion. If then, to suppose +that He has done this, is contrary to our conceptions of His greatness +and majesty, it is plain that our conceptions are erroneous; they have +taken a wrong direction. God has not judged, as to what is worthy of +Him, as we have judged. He has found it worthy of Him to bestow upon man +His special care, though he occupies so small a portion of time; and why +not, then, although he occupies so small a portion of space?</p> + +<p>33. Or is the objection this; that if we suppose the earth only to be +occupied by inhabitants, all the other globes of the universe are +wasted;—turned to no purpose? Is waste of this kind considered as +unsuited to the character of the Creator? But here again, we have the +like waste, in the occupation of the earth. All its previous ages, its +seas and its continents, have been wasted upon mere brute life; often, +so far as we can see, for myriads of years, upon the lowest, the least +conscious <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>forms of life; upon shell-fish, corals, sponges. Why then +should not the seas and continents of other planets be occupied at +present with a life no higher than this, or with no life at all? Will it +be said that, so far as material objects are occupied by life, they are +not wasted; but that they are wasted, if they are entirely barren and +blank of life? This is a very arbitrary saying. Why should the life of a +sponge, or a coral, or an oyster, be regarded as a good employment of a +spot of land and water, so as to save it from being wasted? No doubt, if +the coral or the oyster be there, there is a reason why it is so, +consistently with the attributes of God. But then, on the same ground, +we may say that if it be not there, there is a reason why it is not so. +Such a mode of regarding the parts of the universe can never give us +reasons why they should or should not be inhabited, when we have no +other grounds for knowing whether they are. If it be a sufficient +employment of a spot of rock or water that it is the seat of +organization—of organic powers; why may it not be a sufficient +employment of the same spot that it is the seat of attraction, of +cohesion, of crystalline powers? All the planets, all parts of the +universe, we have good reason to believe, are pervaded by attraction, by +forces of aggregation and atomic relation, by light and heat. Why may +not these be sufficient to prevent the space being wasted, in the eyes +of the Creator? as, during a great part of the earth's past history, and +over large portions of its present mass, they are actually held by Him +sufficient; for they are all that occupy those portions. This notion, +then, of the improbability of there being, in the universe, so vast an +amount of waste spaces, or waste bodies, as is implied in the opinion +that the earth alone is the seat of life, or of intelligence, is +confuted by the fact, that there are vast spaces, waste districts, and +especially waste times, to an extent as great as such a notion <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>deems +improbable. The avoidance of such waste, according to our notions of +waste, is no part of the economy of creation, so far as we can discern +that economy, in its most certain exemplifications.</p> + +<p>34. Or will the objection be made in this way; that such a peculiar +dignity and importance given to the earth is contrary to the analogy of +creation;—that since there are so many globes, similar to the +earth,—like her, revolving round the sun, like her, revolving on her +axes, several of them, like her, accompanied by satellites; it is +reasonable to suppose that their destination and office is the same as +hers;—that since there are so many stars, each like the sun, a source +of light, and probably of heat, it is reasonable to suppose that, like +the sun, they are the centres of systems of planets, to which their +light and heat are imparted, to uphold life:—is it thought that such a +resemblance is a strong ground for believing that the planets of our +system, and of other systems, are inhabited as the earth is? If such an +astronomical analogy be insisted on, we must again have recourse to +geology, to see what such analogy is worth. And then, we are led to +reflect, that if we were to follow such analogies, we should be led to +suppose that all the successive periods of the earth's history were +occupied with life of the same order; that as the earth, in its present +condition, is the seat of an intelligent population, so must it have +been, in all former conditions. The earth, in its former conditions, was +able and fitted to support life; even the life of creatures closely +resembling man in their bodily structure. Even of monkeys, fossil +remains have been found. But yet, in those former conditions, it did not +support human life. Even those geologists who have dwelt most on the +discovery of fossil monkeys, and other animals nearest to man, have not +dreamt that there existed, before man, a race of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>rational, intelligent, +and progressive creatures. As we have seen, geology and history alike +refute such a fancy. The notion, then, that one period of time in the +history of the earth must resemble another, in the character of its +population, because it resembles it in physical circumstances, is +negatived by the facts which we discover in the history of the earth. +And so, the notion that one part of the universe must resemble another +in its population, because it resembles it in physical circumstances, is +negatived as a law of creation. Analogy, further examined, affords no +support to such a notion. The analogy of time, the events of which we +know, corrects all such guesses founded on a supposed analogy of space, +the furniture of which, so far as this point is concerned, we have no +sufficient means of examining.</p> + +<p>35. But in truth, we may go further. Not only does the analogy of +creation not point to any such entire resemblance of similar parts, as +is thus assumed, but it points in the opposite direction. Not entire +resemblance, but universal difference is what we discover; not the +repetition of exactly similar cases, but a series of cases perpetually +dissimilar, presents itself; not constancy, but change, perhaps advance; +not one permanent and pervading scheme, but preparation and completion +of successive schemes; not uniformity and a fixed type of existences, +but progression and a climax. This may be said to be the case in the +geological aspect of the world; for, without occupying ourselves with +the question, how far the monuments of animal life, which we find +preserved in the earth's strata, exhibited a gradual progression from +ruder and more imperfect forms to the types of the present terrestrial +population; from sponges and mollusks, to fish and lizards, from +cold-blooded to warm blooded animals, and so on, till we come to the +most perfect vertebrates;—a doctrine <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>which many eminent geologists +have held, and still hold;—without discussing this question, or +assuming that the fact is so; this at least cannot be denied or doubted, +that man is incomparably the most perfect and highly-endowed creature +which ever has existed on the earth. How far previous periods of animal +existence were a necessary preparation of the earth, as the habitation +of man, or a gradual progression towards the existence of man, we need +not now inquire. But this at least we may say; that man, now that he is +here, forms a climax to all that has preceded; a term incomparably +exceeding in value all the previous parts of the series; a complex and +ornate capital to the subjacent column; a personage of vastly greater +dignity and importance than all the preceding line of the procession. +The analogy of nature, in this case at least, appears to be, that there +should be inferior, as well as superior provinces, in the universe; and +that the inferior may occupy an immensely larger portion of time than +the superior; why not then of space? The intelligent part of creation is +thrust into the compass of a few years, in the course of myriads of +ages; why not then into the compass of a few miles, in the expanse of +systems? The earth was brute and inert, compared with its present +condition, dark and chaotic, so far as the light of reason and +intelligence are concerned, for countless centuries before man was +created. Why then may not other parts of creation be still in this brute +and inert and chaotic state, while the earth is under the influence of a +higher exercise of creative power? If the earth was, for ages, a turbid +abyss of lava and of mud, why may not Mars or Saturn be so still? If the +germs of life were, gradually, and at long intervals, inserted in the +terrestrial slime, why may they not be just inserted, or not yet +inserted, in Jupiter? Or why should we assume that the condition of +those planets <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>resembles ours, even so far as such suppositions imply? +Why may they not, some or all of them, be barren masses of stone and +metal, slag and scoriæ, dust and cinders? That some of them are composed +of such materials, we have better reason to believe, than we have to +believe anything else respecting their physical constitution, as we +shall hereafter endeavor to show. If then, the earth be the sole +inhabited spot in the work of creation, the oasis in the desert of our +system, there is nothing in this contrary to the analogy of creation. +But if, in some way which perhaps we cannot discover, the earth +obtained, for accompaniments, mere chaotic and barren masses, as +conditions of coming into its present state; as it may have required, +for accompaniments, the brute and imperfect races of former animals, as +conditions of coming into its present state, as the habitation of man; +the analogy is against, and not in favor of, the belief that they too +(the other masses, the planets, &c.) are habitations. I may hereafter +dwell more fully on such speculations; but the possibility that the +planets are such rude masses, is quite as tenable, on astronomical +grounds, as the possibility that the planets resemble the earth, in +matters of which astronomy can tell us nothing. We say, therefore, that +the example of geology refutes the argument drawn from the supposed +analogy of one part of the universe with another; and suggests a strong +suspicion that the force of analogy, better known, may tend in the +opposite direction.</p> + +<p>36. When such possibilities are presented to the reader, he may +naturally ask, if we are thus to regard man as the climax of creation, +in space, as in time, can we point out any characters belonging to him, +which may tend to make it conceivable that the Creator should thus +distinguish him, and care for him:—should prepare his habitation if it +be so, by ages of chaotic <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>and rudimentary life, and by accompanying +orbs of brute and barren matter. If Man be, thus, the head, the crowned +head of the creation, is he worthy to be thus elevated? Has he any +qualities which make it conceivable that, with such an array of +preparation and accompaniment, he should be placed upon the earth, his +throne? Or rather, if he be thus the chosen subject of God's care, has +he any qualities, which make it conceivable that he should be thus +selected; taken under such guardianship; admitted to such a +dispensation; graced with such favor. The question with which we began +again recurs: What is man that God should be thus mindful of him? After +the views which have been presented to us, does any answer now occur to +us?</p> + +<p>37. The answer which we have to give, is that which we have already +repeatedly stated. Man is an intellectual, moral, religious, and +spiritual creature. If we consider these attributes, we shall see that +they are such as to give him a special relation to God, and as we +conceive, and must conceive, God to be; and may therefore be, in God, +the occasion of special guardianship, special regard, a special +dispensation towards man.</p> + +<p>38. As an intellectual creature, he has not only an intelligence which +he can apply to practical uses, to minister to the needs of animal and +social life; but also an intellect by which he can speculate about the +relations of things, in their most general form; for instance, the +properties of space and time, the relations of finite and infinite. He +can discover truths, to which all things, existing in space and time, +must conform. These are conditions of existence to which the creation +conforms, that is, to which the Creator conforms; and man, capable of +seeing that such conditions are true and necessary, is capable, so far, +of understanding some of the conditions of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>the Creator's workmanship. +In this way, the mind of man has some community with the mind of God; +and however remote and imperfect this community may be, it must be real. +Since, then, man has thus, in his intellect, an element of community +with God, it is so far conceivable that he should be, in a special +manner, the object of God's care and favor. The human mind, with its +wonderful and perhaps illimitable powers, is something of which we can +believe God to be "mindful."</p> + +<p>39. Again: man is a moral creature. He recognizes, he cannot help +recognizing, a distinction of right and wrong in his actions; and in his +internal movements which lead to action. This distinction he recognizes +as the reason, the highest and ultimate reason, for doing or for not +doing. And this law of his own reason, he is, by reflection, led to +recognize as a Law of the Supreme Reason; of the Supreme Mind which has +made him what he is. The Moral Law, he owns and feels as God's Law. By +the obligation which he feels to obey this Law, he feels himself God's +subject; placed under his government; compelled to expect his judgment, +his rewards, and punishments. By being a moral creature, then, he is, in +a special manner, the subject of God; and not only we can believe that, +in this capacity, God cares for him; but we cannot believe that he <i>does +not</i> care for him. He cares for him, so as to approve of what he does +right, and to condemn what he does wrong. And he has given him, in his +own breast, an assurance that he will do this; and thus, God cares for +man, in a peculiar and special manner. As a moral creature, we have no +difficulty in conceiving that God may think him worthy of his regard and +government.</p> + +<p>40. The development of man's moral nature, as we have just described it, +leads to, and involves the development of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>his religious nature. By +looking within himself, and seeing the Moral Law, he learns to look +upwards to God, the Author of the Law, and the Awarder of the rewards +and penalties which follow moral good and evil. But the belief of such a +dispensation carries us, or makes us long to be carried, beyond the +manifestations of this dispensation, as they appear in the ordinary +course of human life. By thinking on such things, man is led to ascribe +a wider range to the moral Government of God:—to believe in methods of +reward and punishment, which do not appear in the natural course of +events: to accept events, out of the order of nature, which announce +that God has provided such methods: to accept them, when duly +authenticated, as messages from God; and thus, when God provides the +means, to allow himself to be placed in intercourse with God. Since man +is capable of this; since, as a religious creature, this is his +tendency, his need, the craving of his heart, without which, when his +religious nature is fully unfolded, he can feel no comfort nor +satisfaction; we cannot be surprised that God should deem him a proper +object of a special fatherly care; a fit subject for a special +dispensation of his purposes, as to the consequences of human actions. +Man being this, we can believe that God is not only "mindful of him," +but "visits him."</p> + +<p>41. As we have said, the soul of man, regarded as the subject of God's +religious government, is especially termed his <i>Spirit</i>: the course of +human being which results from the intercourse with God, which God +permits, is a <i>spiritual</i> existence. Man is capable, in no small degree, +of such an existence, of such an intercourse with God; and, as we are +authorized to term it, of such a life with God, and in God, even while +he continues in his present human existence. I say <i>authorized</i>, because +such expressions are used, though reverently, by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>most religious +men; who are, at any rate, authority as to their own sentiments; which +are the basis of our reasoning. Whatever, then, may be the imperfection, +in this life, of such a union with God, yet since man can, when +sufficiently assisted and favored by God, enter upon such a union, we +cannot but think it most credible and most natural, that he should be +the object of God's special care and regard, even of his love and +presence.</p> + +<p>42. That men are, only in a comparatively small number of cases, +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual, in the degree which I +have described, does not, by any means, deprive our argument of its +force. The capacity of man is, that he may become this; and such a +capacity may well make him a special object in the eyes of Him under +whose guidance and by whose aid, such a development and elevation of his +nature is open to him. However imperfect and degraded, however +unintellectual, immoral, irreligious, and unspiritual, a great part of +mankind may be, still they all have the germs of such an elevation of +their nature; and a large portion of them make, we cannot doubt, no +small progress in this career of advancement to a spiritual condition. +And with such capacities, and such practical exercise of those +capacities, we can have no difficulty in believing, if the evidence +directs us to believe, that that part of the creation in which man has +his present appointed place, is the special field of God's care and +love; by whatever wastes of space, and multitudes of material bodies, it +may be surrounded; by whatever races it may have been previously +occupied, of brutes that perish, and that, compared with man, can hardly +be said to have lived.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_4" id="Footnote_1_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_4"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Lyell, <span class="smcap">ii</span>. 420. [6th Ed.]</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_5" id="Footnote_2_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_5"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Cuvier.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_6" id="Footnote_3_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_6"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> By Bishop Berkeley. See Lyell, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_7" id="Footnote_4_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_7"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> A recent popular writer, who has asserted the +self-civilizing tendency of man, has not been able, it would seem, to +adduce any example of the operation of this tendency, except a single +tribe of North American Indians, in whom it operated for a short time, +and to a small extent.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE NEBULÆ</p> + + +<p>1. I have attempted to show that, even if we suppose the other bodies of +the universe to resemble the Earth, so far as to seem, by their +materials, forms, and motions, no less fitted than she is to be the +abodes of life; yet that, knowing what we do of man, we can believe that +the Earth is tenanted by a race who are the <i>special</i> objects of God's +care. Even if the tendency of the analogies of creation were, to incline +us to suppose that the other planets are as well suited as our globe, to +have inhabitants, still it would require a great amount of evidence, to +make us believe that they have such inhabitants as we are; while yet +such evidence is altogether wanting. Even if we knew that the stars were +the centres of revolving systems, we should have an immense difficulty +in believing that an Earth, with such a population as ours, revolves +about any of them. If astronomy made a plurality of worlds probable, we +have strong reasonings, drawn from other subjects, to think that the +other worlds are not like ours.</p> + +<p>2. The admirers of astronomical triumphs may perhaps be disposed to say, +that when so much has been discovered, we may be allowed to complete the +scheme by the exercise of fancy. I have attempted to show that we are +not in such a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>state of ignorance, when we look at other relations of +the earth and of man, as to allow us to do this. But now we may go a +little onwards in our argument; and may ask, whether Astronomy really +does what is here claimed for her:—whether she carries us so securely +to the bounds of the visible universe, that our Fancy may take up the +task, and people the space thus explored:—whether the bodies which +Astronomy has examined, be really as fitted as our Earth, to sustain a +population of living things:—whether the most distant objects in the +universe do really seem to be systems, or the beginnings of +systems:—whether Astronomy herself may not incline in favor of the +condition of man, as being the sole creature of his kind?</p> + +<p>3. In making this inquiry, it will of course be understood, that I do so +with the highest admiration for the vast discoveries which Astronomy has +really made; and for the marvellous skill and invention of the great men +who have, in all ages of the world, and not least, in our time, been the +authors of such discoveries. From the time when Galileo first discovered +the system of Jupiter's satellites, to the last scrutiny of the +structure of a nebula by Lord Rosse's gigantic telescope, the history of +the telescopic exploration of the sky, has been a history of genius +felicitously employed in revealing wonders. In this history, the noble +labors of the first and the second Herschel relative to the distribution +of the fixed stars, the forms and classes of nebulæ, and the phenomena +of double stars, especially bear upon our present speculations; to which +we may add, the examination of the aspect of each planet, by various +observers, as Schroeter, and of the moon by others, from Huyghens to +Mädler and Beer. The achievements which are most likely to occur to the +reader's mind are those of the Earl of Rosse; as being the latest +addition to our knowledge, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>and the result of the greatest instrumental +powers. By the energy and ingenuity of that eminent person, an eye is +directed to the heavens, having a pupil of six feet diameter, with the +most complete optical structure, and the power of ranging about for its +objects over a great extent of sky; and thus the quantity of light which +the eye receives from any point of the heavens is augmented, it may be, +fifty thousand times. The rising Moon is seen from the Observatory in +Ireland with the same increase of size and light, as if her solid globe, +two thousand miles in diameter, retaining all its illumination, really +rested upon the summits of the Alps, to be gazed at by the naked eye. An +object which appears to the naked eye a single star, may, by this +telescope, so far as its power of seeing is concerned, be resolved into +fifty thousand stars, each of the same brightness as the obvious star. +What seems to the unassisted vision a nebula, a patch of diluted light, +in which no distinct luminous point can be detected, may, by such an +instrument, be discriminated or resolved into a number of bright dots; +as the stippled shades of an engraving are resolved into dots by the +application of a powerful magnifying glass. Similar results of the +application of great telescopic power had of course been attained long +previously; but, as the nature of scientific research is, each step adds +something to our means of knowledge; and the last addition assumes, +includes, and augments the knowledge which we possessed before. The +discussions in which we are engaged, belong to the very boundary region +of science;—to the frontier where knowledge, at least astronomical +knowledge, ends, and ignorance begins. Such discoveries, therefore, as +those made by Lord Rosse's telescope, require our special notice here.</p> + +<p>4. We may begin, at what appears to us the outskirts of creation, the +Nebulæ. At one time it was conceived by astronomers <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>in general, that +these patches of diffused light, which are seen by them in such +profusion in the sky, are not luminous bodies of regular terms and +definite boundaries, apparently solid, as the stars are supposed to be; +but really, as even to good telescopes many of them seem, masses of +luminous cloud or vapor, loosely held together, as clouds and vapors +are, and not capable by any powers of vision of being resolved into +distinct visible elements. This opinion was for a time so confidentially +entertained, that there was founded upon it an hypothesis, that these +were gaseous masses, out of which suns and systems might afterwards be +formed, by the concentration of these luminous vapors into a solid +central sun, more intensely luminous; while detached portions of the +mass, flying off, and cooling down so as to be no longer self-luminous, +might revolve round the central body, as planets and satellites. This is +the <i>Nebular Hypothesis</i>, suggested by the elder Herschel, and adopted +by the great mathematician Laplace.</p> + +<p>5. But the result of the optical scrutiny of the nebulæ by more modern +observers, especially by Lord Rosse in Ireland, and Mr. Bond in America, +has been, that many celestial objects which were regarded before as +truly nebulous, have been resolved into stars; and this resolution has +been extended to so many cases of nebulæ, of such various kinds, as to +have produced a strong suspicion in the minds of astronomers that <i>all</i> +the nebulæ, however different in their appearance, may really be +resolved into stars, if they be attacked with optical powers +sufficiently great.</p> + +<p>6. If this were to be assumed as done, and if each of the separate +points, into which the nebulæ are thus resolved, were conceived to be a +star, which looks so small only because it is so distant, and which +really is as likely to have a system of planets revolving about it, as +is a star of the first magnitude:—we <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>should then have a view of the +immensity of the visible universe, such as I presented to the reader in +the beginning of this essay. All the distant nebulæ appear as nebulæ, +only because they are so distant; if truly seen, they are groups of +stars, of which each may be as important as our sun, being, like it, the +centre of a planetary system. And thus, a patch of the heavens, one +hundredth or one thousandth part of the visible breadth of our sun, may +contain in it more life, not only than exists in the solar system, but +in as many such systems as the unassisted eye can see stars in the +heavens, on the clearest winter night.</p> + +<p>7. This is a stupendous view of the greatness of the creation; and, to +many persons, its very majesty, derived from magnitude and number, will +make it so striking and acceptable, that, once apprehended, they will +feel as if there were a kind of irreverence in disturbing it. But if +this view be really not tenable when more closely examined, it is, after +all, not wise to connect our feelings of religious reverence with it, so +that they shall suffer a shock when we are obliged to reject it. I may +add, that we may entertain an undoubting trust that any view of the +creation which is found to be true, will also be found to supply +material for reverential contemplation. I venture to hope that we may, +by further examination, be led to a reverence of a deeper and more +solemn character than a mere wonder at the immensity of space and +number.</p> + +<p>8. But whatever the result may be, let us consider the evidence for this +view. It assumes that all the Nebulæ are resolvable into stars, and that +they appear as nebulæ only because they are more distant than the region +in which they can appear as stars. Are there any facts, any phenomena in +the heavens, which may help us to determine whether this is a probable +opinion?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p><p>9. It is most satisfactory for us, when we can, in such inquiries, know +the thoughts which have suggested themselves to the minds of those who +have examined the phenomena with the most complete knowledge, the +greatest care, and the best advantages; and have speculated upon these +phenomena in a way both profound and unprejudiced. Some remarks of Sir +John Herschel, recommended by these precious characters, seem to me to +bear strongly upon the question which I have just had to ask:—Do all +the nebulæ owe their nebulous appearance to their being too distant to +be seen as groups of distinct stars, though they really are such groups?</p> + +<p>10. Herschel, in the visit which he made to the Cape of Good Hope, for +the purpose of erecting to his father the most splendid monument that +son ever erected,—the completed survey of the vault of heaven,—had +full opportunity of studying a certain pair of remarkable bright spaces +of the skies, filled with a cloudy light, which lie near the southern +pole; and which, having been unavoidably noticed by the first Antarctic +voyagers, are called the <i>Magellanic Clouds</i>. When the larger of these +two clouds is examined through powerful telescopes, it presents, we are +told, a constitution of uncommon complexity: "large patches and tracts +of nebulosity in every stage of resolution, from light, irresolvable +with eighteen inches of reflecting aperture, up to perfectly separated +stars like the Milky Way, and clustering groups sufficiently insulated +and condensed to come under the designation of irregular, and in some +cases pretty rich clusters. But besides these, there are also nebulæ in +abundance, both regular and irregular; globular clusters in every stage +of condensation, and objects of a nebulous character quite peculiar, and +which have no analogies in any other region of the heavens."<a name="FNanchor_1_8" id="FNanchor_1_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_8" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> He goes +on to say, that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>these nebulæ and clusters are far more crowded in this +space than they are in any other, even the most crowded parts, of the +nebulous heavens. This <i>Nubecula Major</i>, as it is termed, is of a round +or oval form, and its diameter is about six degrees, so that it is about +twelve times the apparent diameter of the moon. The <i>Nubecula Minor</i> is +a smaller patch of the same kind. If we suppose the space occupied by +the various objects which the nubecula major includes, to be, in a +general way, spherical, its nearest and most remote parts must (as its +angular size proves) differ in their distance from us by little more +than a tenth part of our distance from its centre. That the two nubeculæ +are thus approximately spherical spaces, is in the highest degree +probable; not only from the peculiarity of their contents, which +suggests the notion of a peculiar group of objects, collected into a +limited space; but from the barrenness, as to such objects, of the sky +in the neighborhood of these Magellanic Clouds. To suppose (the only +other possible supposition) that they are two columns of space, with +their ends turned towards us, and their lengths hundreds and thousands +of times their breadths, would be too fantastical a proceeding to be +tolerated; and would, after all, not explain the facts without further +altogether arbitrary assumptions.</p> + +<p>11. It appears, then, that, in these groups, there are stars of various +magnitudes, clusters of various forms, nebulæ regular and irregular, +nebulous tracts and patches of peculiar character; and all so disposed, +that the most distant of them, whichever these may be, are not more than +one-tenth more distant than the nearest. If the nearest star in this +space be at nine times the distance of Sirius, the farthest nebulæ, +contained in the same space, will not be at more than ten times the +distance of Sirius. Of course, the doctrine that nebulæ are seen as +nebulæ, merely because they are so distant, requires <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>us to assume all +nebulæ to be hundreds and thousands of times more distant than the +smallest stars. If stars of the eighth magnitude (which are hardly +visible to the naked eye) be eight times as remote as Sirius, a nebula +containing a thousand stars, which is invisible to the naked eye, must +be more than eight thousand times as remote as Sirius. And thus if, in +the whole galaxy, we reckon only the stars as far as the eighth +magnitude, and suppose all the stars of the galaxy to form a nebula, +which is visible to the spectators in a distant nebula, only as their +nebula is visible to us; we must place them at eight thousand times two +hundred thousand times the distance of the Sun; and, even so, we are +obviously vastly understating the calculation. These are the gigantic +estimates with which some astronomical speculators have been in the +habit of overwhelming the minds of their listeners; and these views have +given a kind of majesty to the aspect of the nebulæ; and have led some +persons to speak of the discovery of every new streak of nebulous light +in the starry heavens, as a discovery of new worlds, and still new +worlds. But the Magellanic Clouds show us very clearly that all these +calculations are entirely baseless. In those regions of space, there +coexists, in a limited compass, and in indiscriminate position, stars, +clusters of stars, nebulæ, regular and irregular, and nebulous streaks +and patches. These, then, are different kinds of things in themselves, +not merely different to us. There are such things as nebulæ side by side +with stars, and with clusters of stars. Nebulous matter resolvable +occurs close to nebulous matter irresolvable. The last and widest step +by which the dimensions of the universe have been expanded in the +notions of eager speculators, is checked by a completer knowledge and a +sager spirit of speculation. Whatever inference we may draw from the +resolvability of some of the nebulæ, we may not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>draw this +inference;—that they are more distant, and contain a larger array of +systems and of worlds, in proportion as they are difficult to resolve.</p> + +<p>12. But indeed, if we consider this process, of the resolution of nebulæ +into luminous points, on its own ground, without looking to such facts +as I have just adduced, it will be difficult, or impossible, to assign +any reason why it should lead to such inferences as have been drawn from +it. Let us look at this matter more clearly. An astronomer, armed with a +powerful telescope, <i>resolves</i> a nebula, discerns that a luminous cloud +is composed of shining dots:—but what are these dots? Into <i>what</i> does +he resolve the nebula? Into <i>Stars</i>, it is commonly said. Let us not +wrangle about words. By all means let these dots be Stars, if we know +about what we are speaking: if a <i>Star</i> merely mean a luminous dot in +the sky. But that these stars shall resemble, in their nature, stars of +the first magnitude, and that such stars shall resemble our Sun, are +surely very bold structures of assumption to build on such a basis. Some +nebulæ are resolvable; are resolvable into distinct points; certainly a +very curious, probably an important discovery. We may hereafter learn +that <i>all</i> nebulæ are resolvable into distinct points: that would be a +still more curious discovery. But what would it amount to? What would be +the simple way of expressing it, without hypothesis, and without +assumption? Plainly this: that the substance of all nebulæ is not +continuous, but discrete;—separable, and separate into distinct +luminous elements;—nebulæ are, it would then seem, as it were, of a +curdled or granulated texture; they have run into <i>lumps</i> of light, or +have been formed originally of such lumps. Highly curious. But what are +these lumps? How large are they? At what distances? Of what structure? +Of what use? It would seem that he must be a bold man <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>who undertakes to +answer these questions. Certainly he must appear to ordinary thinkers to +be <i>very</i> bold, who, in reply, says, gravely and confidently, as if he +had unquestionable authority for his teaching:—"These lumps, O man, are +Suns; they are distant from each other as far as the Dog-star is from +us; each has its system of Planets, which revolve around it; and each of +these Planets is the seat of an animal and vegetable creation. Among +these Planets, some, we do not yet know how many, are occupied by +rational and responsible creatures, like Man; and the only matter which +perplexes us, holding this belief on astronomical grounds, is, that we +do not quite see how to put our theology into its due place and form in +our system."</p> + +<p>13. In discussing such matters as these, where our knowledge and our +ignorance are so curiously blended together, and where it is so +difficult to make men feel that so much ignorance can lie so close to so +much knowledge;—to make them believe that they have been allowed to +discover so much, and yet are not allowed to discover more:—we may be +permitted to illustrate our meaning, by supposing a case of blended +knowledge and ignorance, of real and imaginary discovery. Suppose that +there were carried from a scientific to a more ignorant nation, +excellent maps of the world, finely engraved; the mountain-ranges shaded +in the most delicate manner, and the sheet crowded with information of +all kinds, in writing large, small, and microscopic. Suppose also, that +when these maps had been studied with the naked eye, so as to establish +a profound respect for the knowledge and skill of the author of them, +some of those who perused them should be furnished with good +microscopes, so as to carry their examination further than before. They +might then find that, in several parts, what before appeared to be +merely crooked lines, was really writing, stating, it may be, the amount +of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>population of a province, or the date of foundation of a town. To +exhaust all the information thus contained on the maps, might be a work +of considerable time and labor. But suppose that, when this was done, a +body of resolute microscopists should insist that the information which +the map contained was not exhausted: that they should continue peering +perseveringly at the lines which formed the shading of the mountains, +maintaining that these lines also were writing, if only it might be +deciphered; and should go on increasing, with immense labor and +ingenuity, the powers of their microscopes, in order to discover the +legend contained in these unmeaning lines. We should, perhaps, have here +an image of the employment of these astronomers, who now go on looking +in nebulæ for worlds. And we may notice in passing, that several of the +arguments which are used by such astronomers, might be used, and would +be used, by our microscopists:—how improbable it was that a person so +full of knowledge, and so able to convey it, as the author of the maps +was known to be, should not have a design and purpose in every line that +he drew: what a waste of space it would be to leave any part of the +sheet blank of information; and the like. To which the reply is to us +obvious; that the design of shading the mountains was design enough; and +that the information conveyed was all that was necessary or convenient. +Nor does this illustration at all tend to show that such astronomical +scrutiny, directed intelligently, with a right selection of the points +examined, may not be highly interesting and important. If the +microscopists had examined the map with a view to determine the best way +in which mountains can be indicated by shading, they would have employed +themselves upon a question which has been the subject of multiplied and +instructive discussion in our own day.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p><p>14. But to return to the subject of Nebulæ, we may further say, with +the most complete confidence, that whether or not nebulous matter be +generally resolvable into shining dots, it cannot possibly be true that +its being, or not being so resolvable by our telescopes, depends merely +upon its smaller or greater distance from the observer. For, in the +first place, that there is matter, to the best assisted eye not +distinguishable from nebulous matter, which is not so resolvable, is +proved by several facts. The tails of Comets often resemble nebulæ; so +much so that there are several known nebulæ, which are, by the less +experienced explorers of the sky, perpetually mistaken for comets, till +they are proved not to be so, by their having no cometary motion. Such +is the nebula in Andromeda, which is visible to the naked eye.<a name="FNanchor_2_9" id="FNanchor_2_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_9" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> But +the tails and nebulous appendages of comets, though they alter their +appearance very greatly, according to the power of the telescope with +which they are examined, have never been resolved into stars, or any +kind of dots; and seem, by all investigations, to be sheets or cylinders +or cones of luminous vapor, changing their form as they approach to or +recede from the sun, and perhaps by the influence of other causes. Yet +some of them approach very near the earth; all of them come within the +limits of our system. Here, then, we have (probably, at least,) nebulous +matter, which when brought close to the eye, compared with the stellar +nebulæ, still appears as nebulous.</p> + +<p>15. Again, as another phenomenon, bearing upon the same question, we +have the Zodiacal Light. This is a faint cone of light<a name="FNanchor_3_10" id="FNanchor_3_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_10" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> which, at +certain seasons, may be seen extending from the horizon obliquely +upwards, and following the course of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>the ecliptic, or rather, of the +sun's equator. It appears to be a lens-shaped envelope of the sun, +extending beyond the orbits of Mercury and Venus, and nearly attaining +that of the earth; and in Sir John Herschel's view, may be regarded as +placing the sun in the list of nebulous stars. No one has ever thought +that this nebulous appearance was resolvable into luminous points; but +if it were, probably not even the most sanguine of speculators on the +multitude of suns would call these points <i>suns</i>.</p> + +<p>16. But indeed the nebulæ themselves, and especially the most remote of +the nebulæ, or at least those which most especially require the most +powerful telescopes, offer far more decisive proofs that their +resolvability or non-resolvability,—their apparent constitution as +diffused and vaporous masses,—does not depend upon their distance. A +remarkable fact in the irregular, and in some of the regular nebulæ<a name="FNanchor_4_11" id="FNanchor_4_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_11" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +is, that they consist of long patches and streaks, which stretch out in +various directions, and of which the form<a name="FNanchor_5_12" id="FNanchor_5_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_12" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and extent vary according +to the visual power which is applied to them. Many of the nebulæ and +especially of the fainter ones, entirely change their form with the +optical power of the instrument by which they are scrutinized; so that, +as seen in the mightier telescopes of modern times, the astronomer +scarcely recognizes the figures in which the earlier observers have +recorded what they saw in the same place. Parts which, before, were +separate, are connected by thin bridges of light which are now detected; +and where the nebulous space appeared to be bounded, it sends off long +tails of faint light into the surrounding space. Now, no one can suppose +that these newly-seen portions of the nebula are immensely further off +than the other parts. However little we know of the nature of the +object, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>we must suppose it to be one connected object, with all its +parts, as to sense, at the same distance from us. Whether therefore it +be resolvable or no, there must be some other reason, besides the +difference of distance, why the brighter parts were seen, while the +fainter parts were not. The obvious reason is, that the latter were not +seen because they were thin films which required more light to see them. +We are led, irresistibly as it seems, to regard the whole mass of such a +nebula, as an aggregation of vaporous rolls and streaks, assuming such +forms as thin volumes of smoke or vapor often assume in our atmosphere, +and assuming, like them, different shapes according to the quantity of +light which comes to us from them. If, as soon as one of these new +filaments or webs of a nebula comes into view, we should say, Here we +have a new array of suns and of worlds, we should judge as +fantastically, as any one who should combine the like imaginations with +the varying cloud-work of a summer-sky. To suppose that all the varied +streaks by which the patch of nebulous light shades off into the +surrounding darkness, and which change their form and extent with every +additional polish which we can give to a reflecting or refracting +surface, disclose, with every new streak, new worlds, is a wanton +indulgence of fancy, to which astronomy gives us no countenance.<a name="FNanchor_6_13" id="FNanchor_6_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_13" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>17. Undoubtedly all true astronomers, taught caution and temperance of +thought by the discipline of their magnificent science, abstain from +founding such assumptions upon their <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>discoveries. They know how +necessary it is to be upon their guard against the tricks which fancy +plays with the senses; and if they see appearances of which they cannot +interpret the meaning, they are content that they should have no meaning +for them, till the due explanation comes. We have innumerable examples +of this wise and cautious temper, in all periods of astronomy. One has +occurred lately. Several careful astronomers, observing the stars by +day, had been surprised to see globes of light glide across the field of +view of their telescopes, often in rapid succession and in great +numbers. They did not, as may be supposed, rush to the assumption that +these globes were celestial bodies of a new kind, before unseen; and +that from the peculiarity of their appearance and movement, they were +probably inhabited by beings of a peculiar kind. They proceeded very +differently; they altered the focus of their telescopes, looked with +other glasses, made various changes and trials, and finally discovered +that these globes of light were the winged seeds of certain plants which +were wafted through the air; and which, illuminated by the sun, were +made globular by being at distances unsuited to the focus of the +telescope.<a name="FNanchor_7_14" id="FNanchor_7_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_14" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>18. But perhaps something more may be founded on the ramified and +straggling form which belongs to many of the nebulæ. Under the powers of +Lord Rosse's telescope, a considerable number of them assume a shape +consisting of several spiral films diverging from one centre, and +growing broader and fainter as they diverge, so as to resemble a curled +feather, or whirlpool of light.<a name="FNanchor_8_15" id="FNanchor_8_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_15" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> This form, though generally deformed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>by irregularities, more or less, is traceable in so many of the nebulæ, +that we cannot easily divest ourselves of the persuasion that there is +some general reason for such a form;—that something, in the mechanical +causes which have produced the nebulæ, has tended to give them this +shape. Now, when this thought has occurred to us, since mathematicians +have written a great deal concerning the mechanics of the universe, it +is natural to ask, whether any of the problems which they have solved +give a result like that thus presented to our eyes. Do such spirals as +we here see, occur in any of the diagrams which illustrate the possible +motions of celestial bodies? And to this, a person acquainted with +mathematical literature might reply, that in the second Book of Newton's +<i>Principia</i>, in the part which has especial reference to the Vortices of +Descartes, such spirals appear upon the page. They represent the path +which a body would describe if, acted upon by a central force, it had to +move in a medium of which the resistance was +considerable;—considerable, that is, in comparison with the other +forces which act; as for example, the forces which deflect the motion +from a straight line. Indeed, that in such a case a body would describe +a spiral, of which the general form would be more or less oval, is +evident on a little consideration. And in this way, for instance, +Encke's comet, which, if the resistance to its motion were insensible, +would go on describing an ellipse about the sun, always returning upon +the same path after every revolution; does really describe a path which, +at each revolution, falls a little within the preceding revolution, and +thus gradually converges to the centre. And if we suppose the comet to +consist of a luminous mass, or a string of masses, which should <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>occupy +a considerable arc of such an orbit, the orbit would be marked by a +track of light, as an oval spiral. Or if such a comet were to separate +into two portions, as we have, with our own eyes, recently seen Biela's +comet do; or into a greater number; then these portions would be +distributed along such a spiral. And if we suppose a large mass of +cometic matter thus to move in a highly resisting medium, and to consist +of patches of different densities, then some would move faster and some +more slowly; but all, in spirals such as have been spoken of; and the +general aspect produced would be, that of the spiral nebulæ which I have +endeavored to describe. The luminous matter would be more diffused in +the outer and more condensed in the central parts, because to the centre +of attraction all the spirals converge.</p> + +<p>19. This would be so, we say, if the luminous matter moved in a greatly +resisting medium. But what is the measure of <i>great</i> resistance? It is, +as we have already said, that the resistance which opposes the motion +shall bear a considerable proportion to the force which deflects the +motion. But what is that force? Upon the theory of the universal +gravitation of matter, on which theory we here proceed, the force which +deflects the motions of the parts of each system into curves, is the +mutual attraction of the parts of the system; leaving out of the account +the action of other systems, as comparatively insignificant and +insensible. The condition, then, for the production of such spiral +figures as I have spoken of, amounts really to this; that the mutual +attraction of the parts of the luminous matter is slight; or, in other +words, that the matter itself is very thin and rare. In that case, +indeed, we can easily see that such a result would follow. A cloud of +dust, or of smoke, which was thin and light, would make but a little way +through the air, and would soon fall downwards; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>while a metal bullet +shot horizontally with the same velocity, might fly for miles. Just so, +a loose and vaporous mass of cometic matter would be pulled rapidly +inwards by the attraction to the centre; and supposing it also drawn +into a long train, by the different density of its different parts, it +would trace, in lines of light, a circular or elliptical spiral +converging to the centre of attraction, and resembling one of the +branches of the spiral nebulæ. And if several such cometic masses thus +travelled towards the centre, they would exhibit the wheel-like figure +with bent spokes, which is seen in the spiral nebulæ. And such a figure +would all the more resemble some of these nebulæ, as seen through Lord +Rosse's telescope, if the spirals were accompanied by exterior branches +of thinner and fainter light, which nebulous matter of smaller density +might naturally form. Perhaps too, such matter, when thin, may be +supposed to cool down more rapidly from its state of incandescence; and +thus to become less luminous. If this were so, a great optical power +would of course be required, to make the diverging branches visible at +all.</p> + +<p>20. There is one additional remark, which we may make, as to the +resemblance of cometary<a name="FNanchor_9_16" id="FNanchor_9_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_16" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> and nebular matter. That cometary matter is +of very small density, we have many reasons to believe:—its +transparency, which allows us to see stars through it undimmed;—the +absence of any mechanical effect, weight, inertia, impulse, or +attraction, in the nearest <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>appulses of comets to planets and +satellites:—and the fact that, in the recent remarkable event in the +cometic history, the separation of Biela's comet into two, the two parts +did not appear to exert any perceptible attraction on each other, any +more than two volumes of dust or of smoke would do on earth. Luminous +cometary matter, then, is very light, that is, has very little weight or +inertia. And luminous nebulous matter is also very light in this sense: +if our account of the cause of spiral nebulæ has in it any truth. But +yet, if we suppose the nebulæ to be governed by the law of universal +gravitation, the attractive force of the luminous matter upon itself, +must be sufficient to bend the spirals into their forms. How are we to +reconcile this; that the matter is so loose that it falls to the centre +in rapid spirals, and yet that it attracts so strongly that there is a +centre, and an energetic central force to curve the spirals thither? To +this, the reply which we must make is, that the size of the nebular +space is such, that though its rarity is extreme, its whole mass is +considerable. One part does not perceptibly attract another, but the +whole does perceptibly attract every part. This indeed need the less +surprise us, since it is exactly the case with our earth. One stone does +not visibly attract another. It is much indeed for man, if he can make +perceptible the attraction of a mountain upon a plumb-line; or of a +stratum of rock a thousand feet thick upon the going of a pendulum; or +of large masses of metal upon a delicate balance. By such experiments +men of science have endeavored to measure that minute thing, the +attraction of one portion of terrestrial matter upon another; and thus, +to weigh the whole mass of the earth. And equally great, at least, may +be the disproportion between the mutual attraction of two parts of a +nebulous system, and the total central <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>attraction; and thus, though the +former be insensible, the latter may be important.</p> + +<p>21. It has been shown by Newton, that if any mass of matter be +distributed in a uniform sphere, or in uniform concentric spherical +shells, the total attraction on a point without the sphere, will be the +same as if the whole mass were collected in that single point, the +centre. Now, proceeding upon the supposition of such a distribution of +the matter in a nebula, (which is a reasonable average supposition,) we +may say, that if our sun were expanded into a nebula reaching to the +extreme bounds of the known solar system, namely, to the +newly-discovered planet Neptune, or even hundreds of times further; the +attraction on an external point would remain the same as it is, while +the attraction on points within the sphere of diffusion would be less +than it is; according to some law, depending upon the degree of +condensation of the nebular matter towards the centre; but still, in the +outer regions of the nebula, not differing much from the present solar +attraction. If we could discover a mass of luminous matter, descending +in a spiral course towards the centre of such a nebula, that is, towards +the sun, we should have a sort of element of the spiral nebulæ which +have now attracted so much of the attention of astronomers. But, by an +extraordinary coincidence, recent discoveries have presented to us such +an element. Encke's comet, of which we have just spoken, appears to be +describing such a spiral curve towards the sun. It is found that its +period is, at every revolution, shorter and shorter; the amplitude of +its sweep, at every return within the limits of our observation, +narrower and narrower; so that in the course of revolutions and ages, +however numerous, still, not such as to shake the evidence of the fact, +it will fall into the sun.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p><p>22. Here then we are irresistibly driven to calculate what degree of +resemblance there is, between the comet of Encke, and the luminous +elements of the spiral nebulæ, which have recently been found to exist +in other regions of the universe. Can we compare its density with +theirs? Can we learn whether the luminous matter in such nebulæ is more +diffused or less diffused, than that of the comet of Encke? Can we +compare the mechanical power of getting through space, as we may call +it, that is, the ratio of the inertia to the resistance, in the one +case, and in the other? If we can, the comparison cannot fail, it would +seem, to be very curious and instructive. In this comparison, as in most +others to which cosmical relations conduct us, we must expect that the +numbers to which we are led, will be of very considerable amount. It is +not equality in the density of the two luminous masses which we are to +expect to find; if we can mark their proportions by thousands of times, +we shall have made no small progress in such speculations.</p> + +<p>23. The comet of Encke describes a spiral, gradually converging to the +sun; but at what rate converging? In how many revolutions will it reach +the sun? Of how many folds will its spire consist, before it attains the +end of its course? The answer is:—Of very many. The retardation of +Encke's Comet is very small: so small, that it has tasked the highest +powers of modern calculation to detect it. Still, however, it is there: +detected, and generally acknowledged, and confirmed by every revolution +of the comet, which brings it under our notice; that is, commonly, about +every three years. And having this fact, we must make what we can of it, +in reasoning on the condition of the universe. No accuracy of +calculation is necessary for our purpose: it is enough, if we bring into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>view the kind of scale of numbers to which calculation would lead us.</p> + +<p>24. Encke's comet revolves round the sun in 1,211 days. The period +diminishes at present, by about one-ninth of a day every revolution. +This amount of diminution will change, as the orbit narrows; but for our +purpose, it will be enough to consider it unchangeable. The orbit +therefore will cease to exist in a number of periods expressed by 9 +times 1,211; that is, in something more that 10,000 revolutions; and of +course sooner than this, in consequence of its coming in contact with +the body of the sun. In 30,000 years then, it may be, this comet will +complete its spiral, and be absorbed by the central mass. This long +time, this long series of ten thousand revolutions, are long, because +the resistance is so small, compared with the inertia of the moving +mass. However thin, and rare, and unsubstantial the comet may be, the +medium which resists it is much more so.</p> + +<p>25. But this spiral, converging to its pole so slowly that it reaches it +only after 10,000 circuits, is very different indeed from the spirals +which we see in the nebulæ of which we have spoken. In the most +conspicuous of those, there are only at most three or four circular or +oval sweeps, in each spiral, or even the spiral reaches the centre +before it has completed a single revolution round it. Now, what are we +to infer from this? How is it, that the comet has a spiral of so many +revolutions, and the nebulæ of so few? What difference of the mechanical +conditions is indicated by this striking difference of form? Why, while +the Comet thus lingers longer in the outer space, and approaches the sun +by almost imperceptible degrees, does the Nebular Element rush, as it +were, headlong to its centre, and show itself unable to circulate even +for a few revolutions?</p> + +<p>26. Regarding the question as a mechanical problem, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>answer must be +this:—It is so, because the nebula is so much more rare than the matter +of the comet, or the resisting medium so much more dense; or combining +the two suppositions, because in the case of the comet, the luminous +matter has <i>much</i> more inertia, more mechanical reality and substance, +than the medium through which it moves; but in the nebula very <i>little</i> +more.</p> + +<p>27. The numbers of revolutions of the spiral, in the two cases, may not +exactly represent the difference of the proportions; but, as I have +said, they may serve to show the scale of them; and thus we may say, +that if Encke's comet, approaching the centre by 10,000 revolutions, is +100,000 times as dense as the surrounding medium, the elements of the +nebula, which reach the centre in a single revolution, are only ten +times as dense as the medium through which they have to move.<a name="FNanchor_10_17" id="FNanchor_10_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_17" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>28. Nor does this result (that the bright element of the nebulæ is so +few times denser than the medium in which it moves) offer anything which +need surprise us: for, in truth, in a diffused nebula, since we suppose +that its parts have mechanical properties, the nebula itself is a +resisting medium. The rarer parts, which may very naturally have cooled +down in consequence of their rarity, and so, become non-luminous, will +resist the motions of the more dense and still-luminous portions. If we +recur to the supposition, which we lately made, that the Sun were +expanded into a nebulous sphere, reaching the orbit of Neptune, the +diffused matter would offer a far greater resistance to the motions of +comets than they now experience. In that case, Encke's comet might be +brought to the centre after <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>a few revolutions; and if, while it were +thus descending, it were to be drawn out into a string of luminous +masses, as Biela's comet has begun to be, these comets, and any others, +would form separate luminous spiral tracks in the solar system; and +would convert it into a spiral nebula of many branches, like those which +are now the most recent objects of astronomical wonder.</p> + +<p>29. It seems allowable to regard it as one of those coincidences, in the +epochs of related yet seeming unconnected discoveries, which have so +often occurred in the history of science; that we should, nearly at the +same time, have had brought to our notice, the prevalence of spiral +nebulæ, and the circumstances, in Biela's and in Encke's comets, which +seem to explain them: the one by showing the origin of luminous broken +lines, one part drifting on faster than another, according to its +different density, as is usual in incoherent masses;<a name="FNanchor_11_18" id="FNanchor_11_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_18" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and the other +by showing the origin of the spiral form of those lines, arising from +the motion being in a resisting medium.</p> + +<p>30. But though I have made suppositions by which our Solar System might +become a spiral nebula, undoubtedly it is at present something very +different; and the leading points of difference are very important for +us to consider. And the main point is, that which has already been +cursorily noticed: that instead of consisting of matter all nearly of +the same density, and a great deal of it luminous, our Solar System +consists of kinds of matter immensely different in density, and of large +and regular portions which are not luminous. Instead of a diffused +nebula with vaporous comets trailing spiral tracks <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>through a medium +little rarer than themselves; we have a central sun, and the dark globes +of the solid planets rolling round him, in a medium so rare, that in +thousands of revolutions not a vestige of retardation can be discovered +by the most subtle and persevering researches of astronomers. In the +solar system, the luminous matter is collected into the body of the sun; +the non-luminous matter, into the planets. And the comets and the +resisting medium, which offer a small exception to this account, bear a +proportion to the rest which the power of numbers scarce suffices to +express.</p> + +<p>31. Thus with regard to the density of matter in the solar system; we +have supposed, as a mode of expression, that the density of a comet, +Encke's comet for instance, is 100,000 times that of the resisting +medium. Probably this is greatly understated; and probably also we +greatly understate the matter, when we suppose that the tail of a comet +is 100,000 times rarer than the matter of the sun.<a name="FNanchor_12_19" id="FNanchor_12_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_19" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> And thus the +resisting medium would be, at a very low calculation, 10,000 millions of +times more rare than the substance of the sun.</p> + +<p>32. And thus we are not, I think, going too far, when we say, that our +Solar System, compared with spiral nebulous systems, is a system +completed and finished, while they are mere confused, indiscriminate, +incoherent masses. In the Nebulæ, we have loose matter of a thin and +vaporous constitution, differing as more or less rare, more or less +luminous, in a small degree; diffused over enormous spaces, in +straggling and irregular forms; moving in devious and brief curves, with +no vestige of order or system, or even of separation of different <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>kinds +of bodies. In the Solar System, we have the luminous separated from the +non-luminous, the hot from the cold, the dense from the rare; and all, +luminous and non-luminous, formed into globes, impressed with regular +and orderly motions, which continue the same for innumerable revolutions +and cycles.<a name="FNanchor_13_20" id="FNanchor_13_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_20" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> The spiral nebulæ, compared with the solar system, +cannot be considered as other than a kind of chaos; and not even a +chaos, in the sense of a state preceding an orderly and stable system; +for there is no indication, in those objects, of any tendency towards +such a system. If we were to say that they appear mere shapeless masses, +flung off in the work of creating solar systems, we might perhaps +disturb those who are resolved to find everywhere worlds like ours; but +it seems difficult to suggest any other reason for not saying so.</p> + +<p>33. The same may be said of the other very irregular nebulæ, which +spread out patches and paths of various degrees of brightness; and shoot +out, into surrounding space, faint branches which are of different form +and extent, according to the optical power with which they are seen. +These irregular forms are incapable of being permanent according to the +laws of mechanics. They are not figures of equilibrium; and, therefore, +must change by the attraction of the matter upon itself. But if the +tenuity of the matter is extreme, and the resistance of the medium in +which it floats considerable, this tendency to change and to +condensation may be almost nullified; and the bright specks may long +keep their straggling forms, as the most fantastically shaped clouds of +a summer-sky often do. It is true, it may be said that the reason why we +see no change in the form of such nebulæ, is that our observations <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>have +not endured long enough; all visible changes in the stars requiring an +immense time, according to the gigantic scale of celestial mechanism. +But even this hypothesis (it is no more) tends to establish the extreme +tenuity of the nebulæ; for more solid systems, like our solar system, +require, for the preservation of their form, motions which are +perceptible, and indeed conspicuous, in the course of a month; namely, +the motions of the planets. All, therefore, concurs to prove the extreme +tenuity of the substance of irregular nebulæ.</p> + +<p>34. Nebulæ which assume a regular, for instance, a circular or oval +shape, with whatever variation of luminous density from the inner to the +outer parts, may have a form of equilibrium, if their parts have a +proper gyratory motion. Still, we see no reason for supposing that these +differ so much from irregular nebulæ, as to be denser bodies, kept in +their forms by rapid motions. We are rather led to believe that, though +perhaps denser than the spiral nebulæ, they are still of extremely thin +and vaporous character. It would seem very unlikely that these vast +clouds of luminous vapor should be as dense as the tail of a comet; +since a portion of luminous matter so small as such a tail is, must have +cooled down from its most luminous condition; and must require to be +more dense than nebular matter in order to be visible at all by its own +light.</p> + +<p>35. Thus we appear to have good reason to believe that nebulæ are vast +masses of incoherent or gaseous matter, of immense tenuity, diffused in +forms more or less irregular, but all of them destitute of any regular +system of solid moving bodies. We seem, therefore, to have made it +certain that <i>these</i> celestial objects at least are not inhabited. No +speculators have been bold enough to place inhabitants in a comet; +except, indeed, some persons who have imagined that such a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>habitation, +carrying its inmates alternately into the close vicinity of the sun's +surface, and far beyond the orbit of Uranus, and thus exposing them to +the fierce extremes of heat and cold, might be the seat of penal +inflictions on those who had deserved punishment by acts done in their +life on one of the planets. But even to give coherence to this wild +imagination, we must further suppose that the tenants of such +prison-houses, though still sensible to human suffering from extreme +heat and cold, have bodies of the same vaporous and unsubstantial +character as the vehicle in which they are thus carried about the +system; for no frame of solid structure could be sustained by the +incoherent and varying volume of a comet. And probably, to people the +nebulæ with such thin and fiery forms, is a mode of providing them with +population, that the most ardent advocates of the plurality of worlds +are not prepared to adopt.</p> + +<p>36. So far then as the Nebulæ are concerned, the improbability of their +being inhabited, appears to mount to the highest point that can be +conceived. We may, by the indulgence of fancy, people the summer-clouds, +or the beams of the aurora borealis, with living beings, of the same +kind of substance as those bright appearances themselves; and in doing +so, we are not making any bolder assumption than we are, when we stock +the Nebulæ with inhabitants, and call them in that sense, "distant +worlds."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_8" id="Footnote_1_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_8"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Herschel, <i>Outl. of Astr.</i> Art. 893.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_9" id="Footnote_2_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_9"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Herschel, <i>Outl. of Astr.</i> Art. 874, and Plate 11, Fig. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_10" id="Footnote_3_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_10"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Ibid. Art. 897.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_11" id="Footnote_4_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_11"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Hersch. 874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_12" id="Footnote_5_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_12"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Ibid. 881-8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_13" id="Footnote_6_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_13"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> At the recent meeting of the British Association (Sept. +1853), drawings were exhibited of the same nebulæ, as seen through Lord +Rosse's large telescope, and through a telescope of three feet aperture. +With the smaller telescopic power, all the characteristic features were +lost. The spiral structure (see next Article but one) has been almost +entirely brought to light by the large telescope.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_14" id="Footnote_7_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_14"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> See monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dec. +13, 1850.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_15" id="Footnote_8_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_15"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The <a href="#FRONTISPIECE">frontispiece</a> to this volume represents two of these +Spiral Nebulæ; those denominated 51 Messier, and 99 Messier, as given by +Lord Rosse in the <i>Phil. Trans. for 1850</i>. The former of these two has a +lateral focus, besides the principal focus or pole.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_16" id="Footnote_9_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_16"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> I am aware that some astronomers do not consider it as +proved that cometary matter is entirely self-luminous. Arago found that +the light of a Comet contained a portion of polarized light, thus +proving that it had been reflected (<i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">i</span>. p. 111, and <span class="smcap">iii</span>. p. +566). But I think the opinion that the greater part of the light is +self-luminous, like the nebulæ, generally prevails. Any other +supposition is scarcely consistent with the rapid changes of brightness +which occur in a comet during its motion to and from the Sun.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_17" id="Footnote_10_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_17"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> We assume here that the number of revolutions to the +centre is greater in proportion as the relative density of the resisting +medium is less; which is by no means mechanically true; but the +calculation may serve, as we have said, to show the scale of the numbers +involved.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_18" id="Footnote_11_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_18"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Humboldt, whom nothing relative to the history of science +escapes, quotes from Seneca a passage in which mention is made of a +Comet which divided into two parts; and from the Chinese Annals, a +notice of three "coupled Comets," which in the year 896 appeared, and +described their paths together. <i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. p. 570, and the notes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_19" id="Footnote_12_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_19"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Laplace has proved that the masses of comets are very +small. He reckons their mean mass as very much less than 1-100000th of +the Earth's mass. And hence, considering their great size, we see how +rare they must be. See <i>Expos. du Syst. du Monde</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_20" id="Footnote_13_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_20"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Humboldt repeatedly expresses his conviction that our +Solar System contains a greater variety of forms than other systems. +(<i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 373 and 587.)</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE FIXED STARS.</p> + + +<p>1. We appear, in the last chapter, to have cleared away the supposed +inhabitants of the outskirts of creation, so far as the Nebulæ are the +outskirts of creation. We must now approach a little nearer, in +appearance at least, to our own system. We must consider the Fixed +Stars; and examine any evidence which we may be able to discover, as to +the probability of their containing, in themselves or in accompanying +bodies, as planets, inhabitants of any kind. Any special evidence which +we can discern on this subject, either way, is indeed slight. On the one +side we have the asserted analogy of the parts of the universe; of which +point we have spoken, and may have more to say hereafter. Each Fixed +Star is conceived to be of the nature of our Sun; and therefore, like +him, the centre of a planetary system. On the other side, it is +extremely difficult to find any special facts relative to the nature of +the fixed stars, which may enable us in any degree to judge how far they +really are of a like nature with the Sun, and how far this resemblance +goes. We may, however, notice a few features in the starry heavens, with +which, in the absence of any stronger grounds, we may be allowed to +connect our speculations on such questions. The assiduous <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>scrutiny of +the stars which has been pursued by the most eminent astronomers, and +the reflections which their researches have suggested to them, may have +a new interest, when discussed under this point of view.</p> + +<p>2. Next after the Nebulæ, the cases which may most naturally engage our +attention, are Clusters of stars. The cases, indeed, in which these +clusters are the closest, and the stars the smallest, and in which, +therefore, it is only by the aid of a good telescope that they are +resolved into stars, do not differ from the resolvable nebulæ, except in +the degree of optical power which is required to resolve them. We may, +therefore, it would seem, apply to such clusters, what we have said of +resolvable nebulæ: that when they are thus, by the application of +telescopic power, resolved into bright points, it seems to be a very +bold assumption to assume, without further proof, that these bright +points are suns, distant from each other as far as we are from the +nearest stars. The boldness of such an assumption appears to be felt by +our wisest astronomers.<a name="FNanchor_1_21" id="FNanchor_1_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_21" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> That several of the clusters which are +visible, some of them appearing as if the component stars were gathered +together in a nearly spherical form, are systems bound together by some +special force, or some common origin, we may regard, with those +astronomers, as in the highest degree probable. With respect to the +stability of the form of such a system, a curious remark has been made +by Sir John Herschel,<a name="FNanchor_2_22" id="FNanchor_2_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_22" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> that if we suppose a globular space filled with +equal stars, uniformly dispersed through it, the particular stars might +go on forever, describing ellipses about the centre of the globe, in all +directions, and of all sizes; and all completing their revolutions in +the same time. This follows, because, as Newton has shown, in such a +case, the compound force which tends to the centre <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>of the sphere would +be everywhere proportional to the distance from the centre; and under +the action of such a force, ellipses about the centre would be +described, all the periods being of the same amount. This kind of +symmetrical and simple systematic motion, presented by Newton as a mere +exemplification of the results of his mechanical principles, is perhaps +realized, approximately at least, in some of the globular clusters. The +motions will be swift or slow, according to the total mass of the +groups. If, for instance, our Sun were thus broken into fragments, so as +to fill the sphere girdled by the earth's orbit, all the fragments would +revolve round the centre in a year. Now, there is no symptom, in any +cluster, of its parts moving nearly so fast as this; and therefore we +have, it would seem, evidence that the groups are much less dense than +would be the space so filled with fragments of the sun. The slowness of +the motions, in this case, as in the nebulæ, is evidence of the weakness +of the forces, and therefore, of the rarity of the mass; and till we +have some gyratory motion discovered in these groups, we have nothing to +limit our supposition of the extreme tenuity of their total substance.</p> + +<p>3. Let us then go on to the cases in which we have proof of such +gyratory motions in the stars; for such are not wanting. Fifty years +ago, Herschel the father, had already ascertained that there are certain +pairs of stars, very near each other (so near, indeed, that to the +unassisted eye they are seen as single stars only,) and which revolve +about each other. These Binary Sidereal Systems have since been examined +with immense diligence and profound skill by Herschel the son, and +others; and the number of such binary systems has been found, by such +observers, to be very considerable. The periods of their revolutions are +of various lengths, from 30 or 40 years to several hundreds of years. +Some of those pairs <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>which have the shortest periods, have already, +since the nature of their movements was discovered, performed more than +a complete revolution;<a name="FNanchor_3_23" id="FNanchor_3_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_23" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> thus leaving no room for doubting that their +motions are really of this gyratory kind. Not only the fact, but the law +of this orbital motion, has been investigated; and the investigations, +which naturally were commenced on the hypothesis that these distant +bodies were governed by that Law of universal Gravitation, which +prevails throughout the solar system, and so completely explains the +minutest features of its motions, have ended in establishing the reality +of that Law, for several Binary Systems, with as complete evidence as +that which carries its operations to the orbits of Uranus and Neptune.</p> + +<p>4. Being able thus to discern, in distant regions of the universe, +bodies revolving about each other, we have the means of determining, as +we do in our own solar system, the masses of the bodies so revolving. +But for this purpose, we must know their distance from each other; which +is, to our vision, exceedingly small, requiring, as we have said, high +magnifying powers to make it visible at all. And again, to know what +linear distance this small visible distance represents, we must know the +distance of the stars from us, which is, for every star, as we know, +immensely great; and for most, we are destitute of all means of +determining how great it is. There are, however, some of these binary +systems, in which astronomers conceive that they have sufficiently +ascertained the value of both these elements, (the distance of the two +stars from each other, and from us,) to enable them to proceed with the +calculation of which I have spoken; the determination of the masses of +the revolving bodies. In the case of the star <i>Alpha Centauri</i>, the +first star in the constellation of the Centaur, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>period is reckoned +to be 77 years; and as, by the same calculator, the apparent semi-axis +of the orbit described is stated at 15 seconds of space, while the +annual parallax of each star is about one second, it is evident that the +orbit must have a radius about 15 times the radius of the earth's orbit; +that is, an orbit greater than that of Saturn, and approaching to that +of Uranus. In the solar system, a revolution in such an orbit would +occupy a time greater than that of Saturn, which is 30 years, and less +than that of Uranus, which is about 80 years: it would, in fact, be +about 58 years. And since, in the binary star, the period is greater +than this, namely 77 years, the attraction which holds together its two +elements must be less than that which holds together the Sun and a +planet at the same distance; and therefore the masses of the two stars +together are considerably less than the mass of our sun.</p> + +<p>5. A like conclusion is derived from another of these conspicuous double +stars, namely, the one termed by astronomers <i>61 Cygni</i>; of which the +annual parallax has lately been ascertained to be one-third of a second +of space, while the distance of the two stars is 15 seconds. Here +therefore we have an orbit 45 times the size of the Earth's orbit; +larger than that of the newly-discovered planet Neptune, whose orbit is +30 times as large as the earth's, and his period nearly 165 years. The +period of 61 Cygni is however, it appears, probably not short of 500 +years; and hence it is calculated that the sum of the masses of the two +stars which make up this pair is about one-third of the mass of our +Sun.<a name="FNanchor_4_24" id="FNanchor_4_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_24" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>6. These results give some countenance to the opinion, that the quantity +of luminous matter, in other systems, does not differ very considerably +from the mass of our Sun. It differs in these cases as 1 to 3, or +thereabouts. In what degree of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>condensation, however, the matter of +these binary systems is, compared with that of our solar system, we have +no means whatever of knowing. Each of the two stars may have its +luminous matter diffused through a globe as large as the earth's orbit; +and in that case, would probably not be more dense than the tail of a +comet.<a name="FNanchor_5_25" id="FNanchor_5_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_25" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> It is observed by astronomers, that in the pairs of binary +stars which we have mentioned, the two stars of each pair are of +different colors; the stars being of a high yellow, approaching to +orange color,<a name="FNanchor_6_26" id="FNanchor_6_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_26" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> but the smaller individual being in each case of a +deeper tint. This might suggest to us the conjecture that the smaller +mass had cooled further below the point of high luminosity than the +larger; but that both these degrees of light belong to a condition still +progressive, and probably still gaseous. Without attaching any great +value to such conjectures, they appear to be at least as well authorized +as the supposition that each of these stars, thus different, is +nevertheless precisely in the condition of our sun.</p> + +<p>7. But, even granting that each of the individuals of this pair were a +sun like ours, in the nature of its material and its state of +condensation, is it probable that it resembles our Sun also in having +planets revolving about it? A system of planets revolving around or +among a pair of suns, which are, at the same time, revolving about one +another, is so complex a scheme, so impossible to arrange in a stable +manner, that the assumption of the existence of such schemes, without a +vestige of evidence, can hardly require confutation. No doubt, if we +were really required to provide such a binary system of suns with +attendant <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>planets, this would be best done by putting the planets so +near to one sun, that they should not be sensibly affected by the other; +and this is accordingly what has been proposed.<a name="FNanchor_7_27" id="FNanchor_7_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_27" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> For, as has been well +said of the supposed planets, in making this proposal, "Unless closely +nestled under the protecting wing of their immediate superior, the sweep +of the other sun in his perihelion passage round their own, might carry +them off, or whirl them into orbits utterly inconsistent with the +existence of their inhabitants." To assume the existence of the +inhabitants, in spite of such dangers, and to provide against the +dangers by placing them so close to one sun as to be out of the reach of +the other, though the whole distance of the two may not, and as we have +seen, in some cases does not, exceed the dimensions of our solar system, +is showing them all the favor which is possible. But in making this +provision, it is overlooked that it may not be possible to keep them in +permanent orbits so near to the selected centre: their sun may be a vast +sphere of luminous vapor; and the planets, plunged into this atmosphere, +may, instead of describing regular orbits, plough their way in spiral +paths through the nebulous abyss to its central nucleus.</p> + +<p>8. Clustered stars, then, and double stars, appear to give us but little +promise of inhabitants. We must next turn our attention to the single +stars, as the most hopeful cases. Indeed, it is certain that no one +would have thought of regarding the individual stars of clusters, or of +pairs, as the centres of planetary systems, if the view of insulated +stars, as the centres of such systems, had not already become familiar, +and, we may say, established. What, then, is the probability of that +view? Is there good evidence that the Fixed Stars, or some of them, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>really have planets revolving round them? What is the kind of proof +which we have of this?</p> + +<p>9. To this we must reply, that the only proof that the fixed stars are +the centres of planetary systems, resides in the assumption that those +stars are <i>like the Sun</i>;—resemble him in their qualities and nature, +and therefore, it is inferred, must have the same offices, and the same +appendages. They are, as the Sun is, independent sources of light, and +thence, probably, of heat; and therefore they must have attendant +planets, to which they can impart their light and heat; and these +planets must have inhabitants, who live under and enjoy those +influences. This is, probably, the kind of reasoning on which those +rely, who regard the fixed stars as so many worlds, or centres of +families of worlds.</p> + +<p>10. Everything in this argument, therefore, depends upon this: that the +Stars are <i>like the Sun</i>; and we must consider, what evidence we have of +the exactness of this likeness.</p> + +<p>11. The Stars are like the Sun in this, that they shine with an +independent light, not with a borrowed light, as the planets shine. In +this, however, the stars resemble, not only the Sun, but the nebulous +patches in the sky, and the tails of comets; for these also, in all +probability, shine with an original light. Probably it will hardly be +urged that we see, by the very appearance of the stars, that they are of +the nature of the Sun: for the appearance of luminaries in the sky is so +far from enabling us to discriminate the nature of their light, that to +a common eye, a planet and a fixed star appear alike as stars. There is +no obvious distinction between the original light of the stars and the +reflected light of the planets. The stars, then, being like the sun in +being luminous, does it follow that they are, like the sun, definite +dense masses?<a name="FNanchor_8_28" id="FNanchor_8_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_28" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> Or are they, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>or many of them, luminous masses in a far +more diffused state; visually contracted to points, by the immense +distance from us at which they are?</p> + +<p>12. We have seen that some of those stars, which we have the best means +of examining, are, in mass, one third, or less, of our Sun. If such a +mass, at the distance of the fixed stars, were diffused through a sphere +equal in radius to the earth's orbit, it would still appear to us as a +point; as is evident by this, that the fixed stars, for the most part, +have no discoverable annual parallax; that is, the earth's orbit appears +to them a point. If one of the fixed stars, Sirius, for instance, be in +this diffused condition, such a circumstance will not, mechanically +speaking, prevent his having planets revolving round him; for, as we +have said, the attraction of his whole mass, in whatever state of +spherical diffusion, will be the same as if it were collected at the +centre. But such a state of diffusion will make him so unlike our Sun, +as much to break the force of the presumption that he must have planets +because our Sun has. If the luminous matter of the stars gradually +cools, grows dark, and solidifies, such diffusion would imply that the +time of solidification is not yet begun; and therefore that the solid +planets which accompany the luminous central body are not yet brought +into being. If there be any truth in this hypothetical account of the +changes, through which the matter of the stars successively passes; and +if, by such changes, planetary systems are formed; how many of the fixed +stars may never yet have reached the planetary state! how many, for want +of some necessary mechanical condition, may never give rise to permanent +orbits at all!</p> + +<p>13. And that the matter of the stars does go through changes, we have +evidence, in many such changes which have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>actually been observed;<a name="FNanchor_9_29" id="FNanchor_9_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_29" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> +and perhaps in the different colors of different stars; which may, not +improbably, arise from their being at different stages of their +progress. That planetary systems, once formed, go through mighty +changes, we have evidence in the view which geology gives us of the +history of this earth; and in that view, we see also, how unique, and +how far elevated in its purpose, the last period of this history may be, +compared with the preceding periods; and, up to the present time at +least, how comparatively brief in its duration. If, therefore, stellar +globes can become planetary systems in the progress of ages, it will not +be at all inconsistent with what we know of the order of nature, that +only a few, or even that only one, should have yet reached that +condition. All the others, but the one, may be systems yet unformed, or +fragments struck off in the forming of the one. If any one is not +satisfied with this account of the degree of resemblance between the +fixed stars and the sun, but would make the likeness greater than this; +we have only to say, that the proof that it is so lies upon him. Such a +resemblance as we have supposed, is all that the facts suggest. That the +stars are independent luminaries, we see; but whether they are as dense +as the sun, or globes a hundred or a thousand times as rare, we have no +means whatever of knowing. And, to assume that besides these luminous +bodies which we see, there are dark bodies which we do not see, +revolving round the others in permanent orbits, which require special +mechanical conditions; and to suppose this, in order that we may build +upon this assumption a still larger one, that of living inhabitants of +these dark bodies; is a hypothetical procedure, which it seems strange +that we should have to combat, at the present stage of the history of +science, and in dealing with those whose minds have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>been disciplined by +the previous events in the progress of astronomy.</p> + +<p>14. Let us consider, however, further, how far astronomy authorizes us +to regard the Fixed Stars as being, like our Sun, the centres of systems +of Planets. Those who hold this, consider them as having a permanent +condition of brightness, as our Sun has had for an indefinite period, so +far as we have any knowledge on the subject. Yet, as we have said, no +small number of the stars undergo changes of brightness; and some of +them undergo such changes, in a manner which is not discernibly +periodical; and which must therefore be regarded as progressive. This +phenomenon countenances the opinion of such a progress from one material +condition to another; which, we have seen, is suggested by the analogy +of the probable formation of our own solar system. The very star which +is so often taken as the probable centre of a system, Sirius, has, in +the course of the last 2,000 years, changed its light from red to white. +Ptolemy notes it as a red star: in Tycho's time it was already, as it is +now, a white one.<a name="FNanchor_10_30" id="FNanchor_10_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_30" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> The star <i>Eta Argus</i> changes both its degree of +light and its color; ranging, in seemingly irregular intervals of time, +from the fourth to the first magnitude,<a name="FNanchor_11_31" id="FNanchor_11_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_31" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and from yellow to red. +Several other examples of the like kind have been observed. Mr. Hind<a name="FNanchor_12_32" id="FNanchor_12_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_32" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +gives an example in which he has, quite recently, observed in two years +a star change its color from very red to bluish. These variable +unperiodical stars are probably very numerous. Also, some stars, +observed of old, are now become invisible. "The lost Pleiad," by the +loss of which the cluster, called the Seven Stars, offers now only six +to the naked eye, is an example <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>of a change of this kind already noted +in ancient times. There are several others, of which the extinction is +recognized by astronomers as proved.<a name="FNanchor_13_33" id="FNanchor_13_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_33" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> In other cases, new stars have +appeared, and have then seemed to die away and vanish. The appearance of +a new star in the time of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus, induced him +to construct his famous Catalogue of the Stars. Others are recorded to +have appeared in the middle ages. The first which was observed by modern +astronomers was the celebrated star seen by Tycho Brahe in 1572. It +appeared suddenly in the constellation Cassiopeia, was fixed in its +place like the neighboring stars, had no nebula or tail, exceeded in +splendor all other stars, being as bright as Venus when she is nearest +the earth. It soon began to diminish in brightness, and passing through +various diminishing degrees of magnitude, vanished altogether after +seventeen months. This star also passed through various colors; being +first white, then yellow, then red. In like manner, in 1604, a new star +of great magnitude blazed forth in the constellation Serpentarius; and +was seen by Kepler. And this also, like that of 1572, after a few +months, declined and vanished.</p> + +<p>15. These appearances led Tycho to frame an hypothesis like that which +Sir William Herschel afterwards proposed, that the stars are formed by +the condensation of luminous nebulous matter. Nor is it easy to think of +such phenomena (of which several others have been observed, though none +so conspicuous as these), without regarding them as showing that the +matter of the fixed stars, occasionally at least, passes through changes +of consistence as great as would be the condensation and extinction of a +luminous vapor. And if such changes have been but few within the +recorded period of man's observation of the stars, we must recollect how +small that period <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>is, compared with the period during which the stars +have existed. The stars themselves give us testimony of their having +been in being for millions of years. For according to the best estimates +we can form of their distances, the time which light would employ in +reaching us from the most remote of them, would be millions of years; +and, therefore, we now see those remote stars by means of the light +emitted from them millions of years ago. And if, in the 2,000 years +during which such observations are recorded, only 200 stars have +undergone such changes in a degree visible to the earth's inhabitants; +in a million of years, change going on at the same rate, 100,000 stars +would exhibit visible progressive change, showing that they had not yet +reached a permanent condition. And how much of change may go on in any +star without its being in any degree perceptible to the most exact +astronomical scrutiny!</p> + +<p>16. The tendency of these considerations is, to lead us to think that +the fixed stars are not generally in that permanent condition in which +our sun is; and which appears to be alone consistent with the existence +of a system such as the solar system.<a name="FNanchor_14_34" id="FNanchor_14_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_34" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> These views, therefore, fall +in with that which we have been led to by this consideration of the +Nebulæ: that the Solar System is in a more complete and advanced state, +as a system, than many at least of the stellar systems can be; it may +be, than any other.</p> + +<p>17. It has been alleged, as a proof of the likeness of the Fixed Stars +to our Sun, that like him, they revolve upon their axes.<a name="FNanchor_15_35" id="FNanchor_15_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_35" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> This has +been supposed to be proved with regard <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>to many of them, by their having +periodical recurrences of fainter and brighter lustre; as if they were +revolving orbs, with one side darkened by spots. Such facts are not very +numerous or definite in the heavens. <i>Omicron</i><a name="FNanchor_16_36" id="FNanchor_16_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_36" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> in the constellation +<i>Cetus</i>, is the longest known of them; and is held to revolve in 831 +days. From the curious phenomena now spoken of, it has been called <i>Mira +Ceti</i>.<a name="FNanchor_17_37" id="FNanchor_17_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_37" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> <i>Algol</i>, the second star (<i>Beta</i>) of <i>Perseus</i>, called also +<i>Caput Medusæ</i>, is another, with a period of 2 days 21 hours; and in +this case, the obscuration of the light, and the restoration of it, are +so sudden, that from the time when it was first remarked, (by Goodricke, +in 1782,) it suggested the hypothesis of an opaque body revolving round +the star. The star <i>Delta</i>, in the constellation <i>Cephus</i>, is another, +with a period of 5 days 9 hours. The star <i>Beta</i> in the <i>Lyre</i>, has a +period of 6 days 10 hours, or perhaps 12 days 21 hours, one revolution +having been taken for two. Another such star is <i>Eta Aquilæ</i>, with a +period of 7 days 4 hours. These five are all the periodical stars of +which astronomers can speak with precision.<a name="FNanchor_18_38" id="FNanchor_18_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_38" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> But about thirty more +are supposed to be subject to such change, though their periods, epochs, +and phases of brightness, cannot at present be given exactly.</p> + +<p>18. That these periodical changes in certain of the fixed stars are a +curious and interesting astronomical fact, is indisputable. Nothing can +be more probable also, than that it indicates, in the stellar masses, a +revolution on their axes; which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>cannot surprise us, seeing that +revolution upon an axis is, so far as we know, a universal law of all +the large compact masses of matter which exist in the universe; and may +be conceived to be a result derived from their origin, and a condition +of any permanent or nearly permanent figure. But this can prove little +or nothing as to their being like the sun, in any way which implies +their having inhabitants, in themselves or in accompanying planets. The +rotation of our Sun is not, in any intelligible way, connected with its +having near it the inhabited Earth.</p> + +<p>19. If we were to suppose some of the stars to be centres of planetary +systems, we can hardly suppose it likely that these alone rotate, and +that the others stand still. Probably all the stars rotate, more or less +regularly, according as they are permanent or variable in form; but the +most regular may still have no planets; and if they have, those planets +may be as blank of inhabitants as our moon will be proved to be.</p> + +<p>20. The revolution of Algol seems to approach the nearest to a fact in +favor of a star being the centre of a revolving system; and from the +first, as we have said, the periodical change, and the sudden darkening +and brightening of this luminary, suggested the supposition of an opaque +body revolving about it. But this body cannot be a planet. The planets +which revolve about our Sun are not, any of them, nor all of them +together, large enough to produce a perceptible obscuration of his +light, to a spectator outside the system. But in Algol, the phenomena +are very different from this.<a name="FNanchor_19_39" id="FNanchor_19_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_39" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> The star <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>is usually visible as a star +of the second magnitude; but during each period of 2 days 21 hours, (or +69 hours,) it suffers a kind of eclipse, which reduces it to a star of +the fourth magnitude. During this eclipse, the star diminishes in +splendor for 3<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub></span> hours; is at its lowest brightness for a quarter of +an hour; and then, in 3<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub></span> hours more, is restored to its original +splendor. According to these numbers, if the obscuration be produced by +a dark body revolving round a central luminary, and describing a +circular orbit, as the regular recurrence of the obscuration implies, +the space of the orbit during which the eclipsing body is interposed +must be about one-ninth of the circumference; for the obscuration +occupies 7<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>/<sub>4</sub></span> hours out of 69. And therefore the space during which the +eclipsing body obscures the central one, must be about one <i>sixth</i> of +the <i>diameter</i> of its orbit. But in order that the revolving body may, +through this space, obscure the central one, the latter must extend over +this space, namely, one sixth of the diameter of the orbit. But we may +remark that there is no proof, in the phenomena, that the darkening body +is detached from the bright mass. The effect would be the same if the +dark mass were a part of the revolving star itself. It may be that the +star has not yet assumed a spherical form, but is an oblong nebular mass +with one part (perhaps from being thinner in texture) cooled down and +become opaque. And the amount of obscuration, reducing the star from the +second to the fourth magnitude, implies that the obscuring mass is large +(perhaps one half the diameter, or much more) compared with the luminous +mass. If this be a probable hypothesis to account for the phenomena, +they are much more against than for the supposition <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>of the star being +the centre of seats of habitation. And even if we have a planet nearly +as large as its sun, revolving at the distance of only six of the sun's +radii, how unlike is this to the solar system!</p> + +<p>21. In fact, all these periodical stars, in so far as they are +periodical, are proved, not to be like, but to be <i>unlike</i> our sun. It +is true that the sun has spots, by means of which his rotation has been +determined by astronomers. But these spots, besides being so small that +they produce no perceptible alteration in his brightness, and are never, +or very rarely, visible to the naked eye, are not permanent. A star with +a permanent dark side would be very unlike our sun. The largest known of +these stars, <i>Mira</i>, as the old astronomers called it, becomes invisible +to the naked eye for 5 months during a period of 11 months. It must, +therefore, have nearly one half its surface quite dark. This is very +unlike the condition of the sun; and is a condition, it would seem, very +little fitted to make this star the centre of a planetary system like +ours.</p> + +<p>22. But there are other remarkable phenomena respecting these periodical +stars, which have a bearing on our subject. Their periods are not quite +regular, but are subject to certain variations. Thus it has been +supposed that the period of Mira is subject to a cyclical fluctuation, +embracing 88 of its periods; that is, about 80 years. But this notion of +a cycle of so long a duration, requires confirmation; the fact of +fluctuation in the period is alone certain. In like manner, Algol's +periods are not quite uniform. All these facts agree with our +suggestion, that the periodical stars are bodies of luminous matter +which have not yet assumed a permanent form; and which, therefore, as +they revolve about their axes, and turn to us their darker and their +brighter parts, do so at intervals, and in an order somewhat variable. +And this suggestion appears <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>to be remarkably confirmed, by a result +which recent observations have discovered relative to this star, Algol; +namely, that its periods become shorter and shorter. For if the luminous +matter, which is thus revolving, be gradually gathering into a more +condensed form;—becoming less rare, or more compact; as, for instance, +it would do, if it were collecting itself from an irregular, or +elongated, into a more spherical form; such a shortening of the period +of revolution would take place; for a mass which contracts while it is +revolving, accelerates its rate of revolution, by mechanical principles. +And thus we do appear to have, in this observed acceleration of the +periods of Algol, an evidence that that luminous mass has not yet +reached its final and permanent condition.</p> + +<p>23. It is true, it has been conjectured, by high authority,<a name="FNanchor_20_40" id="FNanchor_20_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_40" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> that +this accelerated rapidity of the periods of Algol will not continue; but +will gradually relax, and then be changed to an increase; like many +other cyclical combinations in astronomy. But this conjecture seems to +have little to support it. The cases in which an acceleration of motion +is retarded, checked, and restored, all belong to our Solar System; and +to assume that Algol, like the solar system, has assumed a permanent and +balanced condition, is to take for granted precisely the point in +question. We know of no such cycles among the fixed stars, at least with +any certainty; for the cycle proposed for Mira must be considered as +greatly needing confirmation; considering how long is the cycle, and how +recent the suggestion of its existence.</p> + +<p>24. And even in the solar system, we have accelerated motions, in which +no mathematician or astronomer looks for a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>check or regress of the +acceleration. No one expects that Encke's comet will cease to be +accelerated, and to revolve in periods continually shorter; though all +the other motions hitherto observed in the system are cyclical. In the +case of a fixed star, we have much less reason to look for such a cycle, +than we have in Encke's comet. But further: with regard to the existence +of such a cycle of faster and slower motion in the case of Algol, the +most recent observed facts are strongly against it; for it has been +observed by Argelander, that not only there is a diminution of the +period, but that this diminution proceeds with accelerated rapidity; a +course of events which, in no instance, in the whole of the cosmical +movements, ends in a regression, retardation, and restoration of the +former rate. We are led to believe, therefore, that this remarkable +luminary will go on revolving faster and faster, till its extreme point +of condensation is attained. And in the meantime, we have very strong +reasons to believe that this mutable body is not, like the sun, a +permanent centre of a permanent system; and that any argument drawn from +its supposed likeness to the sun, in favor of the supposition that the +regions which are near it are the seats of habitation, is quite +baseless.</p> + +<p>25. There are other phenomena of the Fixed Stars, and other conjectures +of astronomers respecting them, which I need not notice, as they do not +appear to have any bearing upon our subject. Such are the "proper +motions" of the stars, and the explanation which has been suggested of +some of them; that they arise from the stars revolving round other stars +which are dark, and therefore invisible. Such again is the attempt to +show that the Sun, carrying with it the whole Solar System, is in +motion; and the further attempt to show the direction of this motion; +and again, the hypothesis that the Sun itself revolves round some +distant body in space. These minute inquiries <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>and bold conjectures, as +to the movements of the masses of matter which occupy the universe, do +not throw any light on the question whether any part besides the earth +is inhabited; any more than the investigation of the movements of the +ocean, and of their laws, could prove or disprove the existence of +marine plants and animals. They do not on that account cease to be +important and interesting subjects of speculation; but they do not +belong to our subject.</p> + +<p>26. In Fontenelle's <i>Dialogues on the Plurality of Worlds</i>, a work which +may be considered as having given this subject a place in popular +literature, he illustrates his argument by a comparison, which it may be +worth while to look at for a moment. The speaker who asserts that the +moon, the planets, and the stars, are the seats of habitation, describes +the person, who denies this, as resembling a citizen of Paris, who, +seeing from the towers of Notre Dame the town of Saint Denis, (it being +supposed that no communication between the two places had ever +occurred,) denies that it is inhabited, because he cannot see the +inhabitants. Of course the conclusion is easy, if we may thus take for +granted that what he sees is a town. But we may modify this image, so as +to represent our argument more fairly. Let it be supposed that we +inhabit an island, from which innumerable other islands are visible; but +the art of navigation being quite unknown, we are ignorant whether any +of them are inhabited. In some of these islands, are seen masses more or +less resembling churches; and some of our neighbors assert that these +are churches; that churches must be surrounded by houses; and that +houses must have inhabitants. Others hold that the seeming churches are +only peculiar forms of rocks. In this state of the debate, everything +depends upon the degree of resemblance to churches which the forms +exhibit. But suppose that telescopes are invented, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>and employed with +diligence upon the questionable shapes. In a long course of careful and +skilful examination, no house is seen, and the rocks do not at all +become more like churches, rather the contrary. So far, it would seem, +the probability of inhabitants in the islands is lessened. But there are +other reasons brought into view. Our island is a long extinct volcano, +with a tranquil and fertile soil; but the other islands are apparently +somewhat different. Some of them are active volcanoes, the volcanic +operations covering, so far as we can discern, the whole island; others +undergo changes, such as weather or earthquakes may produce; but in none +of them can we discover such changes as show the hand of man. For these +islands, it would seem the probability of inhabitants is further +lessened. And so long as we have no better materials than these for +forming a judgment, it would, surely, be accounted rash, to assert that +the islands in general are inhabited; and unreasonable, to blame those +who deny or doubt it. Nor would such blame be justified by adducing +theological or <i>à priori</i> arguments; as, that the analogy of island with +island makes the assumption allowable; or that it is inconsistent with +the plan of the Creator of islands to leave them uninhabited. For we +know that many islands are, or were long, uninhabited. And if ours were +an island occupied by a numerous, well-governed, moral, and religious +race, of which the history was known, and of which the relation to the +Creator was connected with its history; the assumption of a history, +more or less similar to ours, for the inhabitants of the other islands, +whose existence was utterly unproved, would, probably, be generally +deemed a fitter field for the romance-writer than for the philosopher. +It could not, at best, rise above the region of vague conjecture.</p> + +<p>27. Fontenelle, in the agreeable book just referred to, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>says, very +truly, that the formula by which his view is urged on adversaries is, +<i>Pourquoi non</i>? which he holds to be a powerful figure of logic. It is, +however, a figure which has this peculiarity, that it may, in most +cases, be used with equal force on either side. When we are asked Why +the Moon, Mercury, Saturn, the system of Sirius, should <i>not</i> be +inhabited by intelligent beings; we may ask, Why the earth in the ages +previous to man might not be so inhabited? The answer would be, that we +have proof <i>how</i> it <i>was</i> inhabited. And as to the fact in the other +case, I shall shortly attempt to give proof that the Moon is certainly +not, and Mercury and Saturn probably not inhabited. With regard to the +Fixed Stars, it is more difficult to reason; because we have the means +of knowing so little of their structure. But in this case also, we might +easily ask on our side, <i>Pourquoi non</i>? Why should not the Solar System +be the chief and most complete system in the universe, and the Earth the +principal planet in that System? So far as we yet know, the Sun is the +largest Sun among the stars; and we shall attempt to show, that the +Earth is the largest solid opaque globe in the solar system. Some System +must be the largest and most finished of all; why not ours? Some planet +must be the largest planet; why not the Earth?</p> + +<p>28. It should be recollected that there must be some system which is the +most complete of all systems, some planet which is the largest of all +planets. And if that largest planet, in the most complete system, be, +after being for ages tenanted by irrational creatures, at last, and +alone of all, occupied by a rational race, that race must necessarily +have the power of asking such questions as these: Why they should be +alone rational? Why their planet should be alone thus favored? If the +case be ours, we may hope to be then able to answer these questions, +when we can explain the most certain fact which they <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>involve; Why the +Earth was occupied so long by irrational creatures, before the rational +race was placed upon it? The mere power of asking such questions can +prove or disprove nothing; for it is a power which must equally subsist, +whether the human inhabitants of the earth be or be not the only +rational population which the universe contains. If there be a race thus +favored by the Creator, they must, at that stage of their knowledge in +which man now is, be able to doubt, as man does, of the extent and +greatness of the privilege which they enjoy.</p> + +<p>29. The argument that the Fixed Stars are like the Sun, and therefore +the centres of inhabited systems as the Sun is, is sometimes called an +argument from Analogy; and this word <i>Analogy</i> is urged, as giving great +force to the reasoning. But it must be recollected, that precisely the +point in question is, whether there <i>is</i> an analogy. The stars, it is +said, are like the Sun. In what respects? We know of none, except in +being self-luminous; and this they have in common with the nebulæ, +which, as we have seen, are not centres of inhabited systems. Nor does +this quality of being self-luminous at all determine the degree of +condensation of a star. Sirius may be less than a hundredth or a +thousandth of the density of the Sun. But the Stars, it may be further +urged, are like the Sun in turning on their axes. To this we reply, that +we know this only of those stars in which, the very phenomenon which +proves their revolution, proves also that they are unlike the Sun, in +having one side darker than the other. Add to which, their revolution is +not connected with the existence of planets, still less of inhabitants +of planets, in any intelligible manner. The resemblance, therefore, so +far as it bears upon the question, is confined to one single point, in +the highest degree ambiguous and inconclusive; and any argument drawn +from this one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>point of resemblance, has little claim to be termed an +argument from analogy.<a name="FNanchor_21_41" id="FNanchor_21_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_41" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>30. On a subject on which we know so little, it is difficult to present +any view which deserves to be regarded as an analogy. We see, among the +stars, nebulæ more or less condensed, which are possibly, in some cases, +stages of a connected progress towards a definite star; and it may be, +to a star with planets in permanent orbits. We see, in our planet, +evidence of successive stages of a connected series of brute animals, +preceded perhaps by various stages of lifeless chaos. If the histories +of the Sun, and of all the stars, are governed by a common analogy, the +nebulous condensation, and the stages of animal life, may be parts of +the same continued series of events; and different stars may be at +different points of that series. But even on this supposition, but a few +of the stars may be the seats of conscious life, and none, of +intelligence. For among the stars which have condensed to a permanent +form, how many have failed in throwing off a permanent planet! How many +may be in some stage of lifeless chaos! We must needs suppose a vast +number of stages between a nebular chaos and the lowest forms of +conscious life. Perhaps as many as there are fixed stars; and far more +than there are of stars which become fertile of life: so that no two +systems may be at the same stage of the planetary progress. And if this +be so,—our system being so complicated, that we must suppose <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>it +peculiarly developed, having the largest Sun that we know of, and our +Earth being (as we shall hereafter attempt to prove) the largest solid +planet that we know of,—this Earth may be the sole seat of the highest +stage of planetary development.</p> + +<p>31. The assumption that there is anything of the nature of a regular law +or order of progress from nebular matter to conscious life,—a law which +extends to all the stars, or to many of them,—is in the highest degree +precarious and unsupported; but since it is sometimes employed in such +speculations as we are pursuing, we may make a remark or two connected +with it. If we suppose, on the planets of other systems, a progress in +some degree analogous to that which geology shows to have occurred on +the Earth, there may be, in those planets, creatures in some way +analogous to our vegetables and animals; but analogy also requires that +they should differ far more from the terrestrial vegetables and animals +of any epoch, than those of one epoch do from those of another; since +they belong to a different stellar system, and probably exist under very +different conditions from any that ever prevailed on the Earth. We are +forbidden, therefore, by analogy, to suppose that on any other planet +there was such an anatomical progression towards the form of man, as we +can discern (according to some eminent physiologists) among the tribes +which have occupied the Earth. Are we to conceive that the creatures on +the planets of other systems are, like the most perfect terrestrial +animals, symmetrical as to right and left, vertebrate, with fore limbs +and hind limbs, heads, organs of sense in their heads, and the like? +Every one can see how rash and fanciful it would be to make such +suppositions. Those who have, in the play of their invention, imagined +inhabitants of other planets, have tried to avoid this servile imitation +of terrestrial forms. Here is Sir Humphry Davy's account of the +inhabitants of Saturn. "I saw <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>moving on the surface below me, immense +masses, the forms of which I find it impossible to describe. They had +systems for locomotion similar to that of the morse or sea-horse, but I +saw with great surprise that they moved from place to place by six +extremely thin membranes, which they used as wings. I saw numerous +convolutions of tubes, more analogous to the trunk of the elephant, than +to anything else I can imagine, occupying what I supposed to be the +upper parts of the body."<a name="FNanchor_22_42" id="FNanchor_22_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_42" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> The attendant Genius informs the narrator, +that though these creatures look like zoophytes, they have a sphere of +sensibility and intellectual enjoyment far superior to that of the +inhabitants of the Earth. If we were to reason upon a work of fancy like +this, we might say, that it was just as easy to ascribe superior +sensibility and intelligence to zoophyte-formed creatures upon the +Earth, as in Saturn. Even fancy cannot aid us in giving consistent form +to the inhabitants of other planets.</p> + +<p>32. But even if we could assent to the opinion, as probable, that there +may occur, on some other planet, progressions of organized forms +analogous in some way to that series of animal forms which has appeared +upon the earth, we should still have no ground to assume that this +series must terminate in a rational and intelligent creature like man. +For the introduction of reason and intelligence upon the Earth is no +part nor consequence of the series of animal forms. It is a fact of an +entirely new kind. The transition from brute to man does not come within +the analogy of the transition from brute to brute. The thread of +analogy, even if it could lead us so far, would break here. We may +conceive analogues to other animals, but we could have no analogue to +man, except man. Man is not merely a higher kind of animal; he is a +creature of a superior order, participating in the attributes of a +higher nature; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>as we have already said, and as we hope hereafter +further to show. Even, therefore, if we were to assume the general +analogy of the Stars and of the Sun, and were to join to that the +information which geology gives us of the history of our own planet; +though we might, on this precarious path, be led to think of other +planets as peopled with unimagined monsters; we should still find a +chasm in our reasoning, if we tried, in this way, to find intelligent +and rational creatures in planets which may revolve round Sirius or +Arcturus.</p> + +<p>33. The reasonable view of the matter appears to be this. The assumption +that the Fixed Stars are of exactly the same nature as the Sun, was, at +the first, when their vast distance and probable great size were newly +ascertained, a bold guess; to be confirmed or refuted by subsequent +observations and discoveries. Any appearances, tending in any degree to +confirm this guess, would have deserved the most considerate attention. +But there has not been a vestige of any such confirmatory fact. No +planet, nor anything which can fairly be regarded as indicating the +existence of a planet, revolving about a star, has anywhere been +discerned. The discovery of nebulæ, of binary systems, of clusters of +stars, of periodical stars, of varying and accelerated periods of such +stars, all seem to point the other way. And if all these facts be held +to be but small in amount, as to the information which they convey, +about the larger, and perhaps nearer stars; still they leave the +original assumption a mere guess, unsupported by all that three +centuries of most diligent, and in other respects successful research, +has been able to bring to light. That Copernicus, that Galileo, that +Kepler, should believe the stars to be Suns, in every sense of the term, +was a natural result of the expansion of thought which their great +discoveries produced, in them and in their contemporaries. Nor are we +yet <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>called upon to withdraw from them our sympathy; or entitled to +contradict their conjecture. But all the knowledge that the succeeding +times have given us; the extreme tenuity of much of the luminous matter +in the skies; the existence of gyratory motion among the stars, quite +different from planetary systems; the absence of any observed motions at +all resembling such systems; the appearance of changes in stars, quite +inconsistent with such permanent systems; the disclosure of the history +of our own planet, as one in which changes have constantly been going +on; the certainty that by far the greater part of the duration of its +existence, it has been tenanted by creatures entirely different from +those which give an interest, and thence, a persuasiveness, to the +belief of inhabitants in worlds appended to each star; the +impossibility, which appears, on the gravest consideration, of +transferring to other worlds such interests as belong to our own race in +this world; all these considerations should, it would seem, have +prevented that old and arbitrary conjecture from growing up, among a +generation professing philosophical caution, and scientific discipline, +into a settled belief.</p> + +<p>34. Some of the moral and theological views which tend to encourage and +uphold this belief, may be taken under our more special consideration +hereafter: but here, where we are reasoning principally upon +astronomical grounds, we may conclude what we have to remark about the +Fixed Stars, as the centres of inhabited systems of worlds, by saying; +that it will be time enough to speculate about the inhabitants of the +planets which belong to such systems, when we have ascertained that +there are such planets, or one such planet. When that is done, we can +then apply to them any reasons which may exist, for believing that all, +or many planets, are the seats of habitation of living things. What +reasons of this kind can be adduced, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>and what is their force with +regard to our own solar system, we must now proceed to discuss.<a name="FNanchor_23_43" id="FNanchor_23_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_43" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_21" id="Footnote_1_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_21"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Herschel, 866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_22" id="Footnote_2_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_22"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Ibid. 866.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_23" id="Footnote_3_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_23"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Herschel, 846.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_24" id="Footnote_4_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_24"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Herschel, 848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_25" id="Footnote_5_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_25"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> That these systems have not condensed to <i>one</i> centre, +appears to imply a less complete degree of condensation than exists in +those systems which have done so.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_26" id="Footnote_6_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_26"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Herschel, 850.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_27" id="Footnote_7_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_27"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Herschel, 847.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_28" id="Footnote_8_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_28"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> The density of the sun is about as great as the density of +water.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_29" id="Footnote_9_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_29"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Herschel, 827-832.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_30" id="Footnote_10_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_30"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 169, 205, and 641.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_31" id="Footnote_11_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_31"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Ibid., <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 172 and 252.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_32" id="Footnote_12_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_32"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Astron. Soc. Notices</i>, Dec. 13, 1850.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_33" id="Footnote_13_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_33"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> See Grant's <i>Hist. of Physical Astronomy</i>, p. 538.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_34" id="Footnote_14_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_34"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> I am aware of certain speculations, and especially of some +recent ones, tending to show that even our Sun is wasting away by the +emission of light and heat; but these opinions, even if established, do +not much affect our argument one way or the other.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_35" id="Footnote_15_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_35"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Chalmers' <i>Astron. Disc.</i> p. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_36" id="Footnote_16_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_36"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Hersch. 820.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_37" id="Footnote_17_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_37"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The periodical character of this star was discovered by +David Fabricius, a parish priest in East Friesland, the father of John +Fabricius, who discovered the solar spots. (<i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 234.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_38" id="Footnote_18_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_38"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Hersch. 825. In Humboldt's <i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 243, Argelander, +who has most carefully observed and studied these periodical stars, has +given a catalogue containing 24, with the most recent determinations of +their periods.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_39" id="Footnote_19_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_39"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Hersch. 821. Humboldt (<i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 238 and 246,) gives +the period as 68 hours 49 minutes, and says that it is 7 or 8 hours in +its less bright state. If we could suppose the times of the warning, and +of the greatest eclipse, given by Herschel, to be exactly determined, as +3<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub></span> and <span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>/<sub>4</sub></span>, that is, in the proportion of 14 to 1, the darkening body +must have its effective breadth <span class="frac"><sup>14</sup>/<sub>15</sub></span> of that of the star. But this is +on the supposition that the orbit of the darkening body has the +spectator's eye in its plane; if this be not so, the darkening body may +be much larger.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_40" id="Footnote_20_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_40"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Hersch. <i>Outl. Astr.</i> 821. Another explanation of the +variable period of Algol, is that the star is moving towards us, and +therefore the light occupies less and less time to reach us.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_41" id="Footnote_21_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_41"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Humboldt, very justly, regards the force of analogy as +tending in the opposite direction. "After all," he asks, (<i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. +373,) "is the assumption of satellites to the Fixed Stars so absolutely +necessary? If we were to begin from the outer planets, Jupiter, &c., +analogy might seem to require that all planets have satellites. But yet +this is not true for Mars, Venus, Mercury." To which we may further add +the <i>twenty-three</i> Planetoids. In this case there is a much greater +number of bodies which have not satellites, than which have them.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_42" id="Footnote_22_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_42"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> <i>Consolations in Travel</i>. Dial. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_43" id="Footnote_23_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_43"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> What is said in Art. 15, that in consequence of the time +employed in the transmission of visual impressions, our seeing a star is +evidence, not that it exists now, but that it existed, it may be, many +thousands of years ago; may seem, to some readers, to throw doubts upon +reasonings which we have employed. It may be said that a star which was +a mere chaos, when the light, by which we see it, set out from it, may, +in the thousands of years which have since elapsed, have grown into an +orderly world. To which bare possibility, we may oppose another +supposition at least equally possible:—that the distant stars were +sparks or fragments struck off in the formation of the Solar System, +which are really long since extinct; and survive in appearance, only by +the light which they at first emitted.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE PLANETS.</p> + + +<p>1. When it was discovered, by Copernicus and Galileo, that Mercury, +Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, which had hitherto been regarded only as +"wandering fires, that move in mystic dance," were really, in many +circumstances, bodies resembling the Earth;—that they and the Earth +alike, were opaque globes, revolving about the Sun in orbits nearly +circular, revolving also about their own axes, and some of them +accompanied by their Satellites, as the Earth is by the Moon;—it was +inevitable that the conjecture should arise, that they too had +inhabitants, as the Earth has. Each of these bodies were seemingly +coherent and solid; furnished with an arrangement for producing day and +night, summer and winter; and might therefore, it was naturally +conceived, have inhabitants moving upon its solid surface, and reckoning +their lives and their employment by days, and months, and years. This +was an unavoidable guess. It was far less bold and sweeping than the +guess that there are inhabitants in the region of the Fixed Stars, but +still, like that, it was, for the time at least, only a guess; and like +that, it must depend upon future explorations of these bodies and their +conditions, whether the guess was confirmed or discredited. The +conjecture could not, by any <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>moderately cautious man, be regarded as so +overwhelmingly probable, that it had no need of further proof. Its final +acceptance or rejection must depend on the subsequent progress of +astronomy, and of science in general.</p> + +<p>2. We have to consider then how far subsequent discoveries have given +additional value to this conjecture. And, as, in the first place, +important among such discoveries, we must note the addition of several +new planets to our system. It was found, by the elder Herschel, (in +1781,) that, far beyond Saturn, there was another planet, which, for a +time, was called by the name of its sagacious discoverer; but more +recently, in order to conform the nomenclature of the planets to the +mythology with which they had been so long connected, has been termed +<i>Uranus</i>. This was a vast extension of the limits of the solar system. +The Earth is, as we have already said, nearly a hundred millions of +miles from the Sun. Jupiter is at more than five times, and Saturn +nearly at ten times this distance: but Uranus, it was found, describes +an orbit of which the radius is about nineteen times as great as that of +the Earth. But this did not terminate the extension of the solar system +which the progress of astronomy revealed. In 1846, a new planet, still +more remote, was discovered: its existence having been divined, before +it was seen, by two mathematicians, Mr. Adams, of Cambridge, and M. +Leverrier, of Paris, from the effects of its force upon Uranus. This new +planet was termed Neptune: its distance from the Sun is about thirty +times the Earth's distance. Besides these discoveries of large planets, +a great number of small planets were detected in the region of the solar +system which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This series of +discoveries began on the first day of 1801, when Ceres was detected by +Piazzi at Palermo; and has gone on up to the present time, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>when +twenty-three of these small bodies have been brought to light; and +probably the group is not yet exhausted.</p> + +<p>3. Now if we have to discuss the probability that all these bodies are +inhabited, we may begin with the outermost of them at present known, +namely Neptune. How far is it likely that this globe is occupied by +living creatures which enjoy, like the creatures on the Earth, the light +and heat of the Sun, about which the planet revolves? It is plain, in +the first place, that this light and heat must be very feeble. Since +Neptune is thirty times as far from the sun as the earth is, the +diameter of the sun as seen from Neptune will only be one-thirtieth as +large as it is, seen from the earth. It will, in fact, be reduced to a +mere star. It will be about the diameter under which Jupiter appears +when he is nearest to us. Of course its brightness will be much greater +than that of Jupiter; nearly as much indeed, as the sun is brighter than +the moon, both being nearly of the same size: but still, with our +full-moonlight reduced to the amount of illumination which we receive +from <i>a full Jupiter</i>, and our sun-light reduced in nearly the same +proportion, we should have but a dark, and also a cold world. In fact, +the light and the heat which reach Neptune, so far as they depend on the +distance of the sun, will each be about nine hundred times smaller than +they are on the earth. Now are we to conceive animals, with their vital +powers unfolded, and their vital enjoyments cherished, by this amount of +light and heat? Of course, we cannot say, with certainty, that any +feebleness of light and heat are inconsistent with the existence of +animal life: and if we had good reason to believe that Neptune is +inhabited by animals, we might try to conceive in what manner their +vital scheme is accommodated to this scanty supply of heat and light. If +it were certain that they were there, we might inquire how they could +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>live there, and what manner of creatures they could be. If there were +any general grounds for assuming inhabitants, we might consider what +modifications of life their particular conditions would require.</p> + +<p>4. But is there any such general ground!? Such a ground we should have, +if we could venture to assume that <i>all</i> the bodies of the Solar System +are inhabited;—if we could proceed upon such a principle, we might +reject or postpone the difficulties of particular cases.</p> + +<p>5. But is such an assumption true? Is such a principle well founded? The +best chance which we have of learning whether it is so, is to endeavor +to ascertain the fact, in the body which is nearest to us; and thus, the +best placed for our closer scrutiny. This is, of course, the Moon; and +with regard to the Moon, we have, again, this advantage in beginning the +inquiry with her:—that she, at least, is in circumstances, as to light +and heat, so far as the Sun's distance affects them, which we know to be +quite consistent with animal and vegetable life. For her distance from +the Sun is not appreciably different from that of the Earth; her +revolutions round the earth do not make nearly so great a difference, in +her distance from the sun, as does the earth's different distances from +the sun in summer and in winter: the fact also being, that the earth is +considerably nearer to the sun in the winter of this our northern +hemisphere, than in the summer. The moon's distance from the sun then, +adapts her for habitation: is she inhabited?</p> + +<p>6. The answer to this question, so far as we can answer it, may involve +something more than those mere astronomical conditions, her distance +from the sun, and the nature of her motions. But still, if we are +compelled to answer it in the negative;—if it appear, by strong +evidence, that the Moon is <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>not inhabited; then is there an end of the +general principle, that, <i>all</i> the bodies of the solar system are +inhabited, and that we must begin our speculations about each, with this +assumption. If the Moon be not inhabited, then, it would seem, the +belief that each special body in the system is inhabited, must depend +upon reasons specially belonging to that body; and cannot be taken for +granted without such reasons. Of the two bodies of the solar system +which alone we can examine closely, so as to know anything about them, +the Earth and the Moon, if the one be inhabited, and the other blank of +inhabitants, we have no right to assume at once, that any other body in +the solar system belongs to the former of these classes rather than to +the latter. If, even under terrestrial conditions of light and heat, we +have a total absence of the phenomenon of life, known to us only as a +terrestrial phenomenon; we are surely not entitled to assume that when +these conditions fail, we have still the phenomenon, life. We are not +entitled to <i>assume</i> it; however it may be capable of being afterwards +proved, in any special case, by special reasons; a question afterwards +to be discussed.</p> + +<p>7. Is, then, the Moon inhabited? From the moon's proximity to us, (she +is distant only thirty diameters of the earth, less than ten times the +earth's circumference; a railroad carriage, at its ordinary rate of +travelling, would reach her in a month,) she can be examined by the +astronomer with peculiar advantages. The present powers of the telescope +enable him to examine her mountains as distinctly as he could the Alps +at a few hundred miles distance, with the naked eye; with the additional +advantage that her mountains are much more brilliantly illuminated by +the Sun, and much more favorably placed for examination, than the Alps +are. He can map and model the inequalities of her surface, as faithfully +and exactly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>as he can those of the surface of Switzerland. He can trace +the streams that seem to have flowed from eruptive orifices over her +plains, as he can the streams of lava from the craters of Etna or Hecla.</p> + +<p>8. Now, this minute examination of the Moon's surface being possible, +and having been made, by many careful and skilful astronomers, what is +the conviction which has been conveyed to their minds, with regard to +the fact of her being the seat of vegetable or animal life? Without +exception, it would seem, they have all been led to the belief, that the +Moon is not inhabited; that she is, so far as life and organization are +concerned, waste and barren, like the streams of lava or of volcanic +ashes on the earth, before any vestige of vegetation has been impressed +upon them: or like the sands of Africa, where no blade of grass finds +root. It is held, by such observers, that they can discern and examine +portions of the moon's surface as small as a square mile;<a name="FNanchor_1_44" id="FNanchor_1_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_44" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> yet, in +their examination, they have never perceived any alteration, such as the +cycle of vegetable changes through the revolutions of seasons would +produce. Sir William Herschel did not doubt that if a change had taken +place on the visible part of the Moon, as great as the growth or the +destruction of a great city, as great, for instance, as the destruction +of London by the great fire of 1666, it would have been perceptible to +his powers of observation. Yet nothing of the kind has ever been +observed. If there were lunar astronomers, as well provided as +terrestrial ones are, with artificial helps of vision, they would +undoubtedly be able to perceive the differences which the progress of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>generations brings about on the surface of our globe; the clearing of +the forests of Germany or North America; the embankment of Holland; the +change of the modes of culture which alter the color of the ground in +Europe; the establishment of great nests of manufactures which shroud +portions of the land in smoke, as those which have their centres at +Birmingham or at Manchester. However obscurely they might discern the +nature of those changes, they would still see that change was going on. +And so should we, if the like changes were going on upon the face of the +Moon. Yet no such changes have ever been noticed. Nor even have such +changes been remarked, as might occur in a mere brute mass without +life;—the formation of new streams of lava, new craters, new crevices, +new elevations. The Moon exhibits strong evidences, which strike all +telescopic observers, of an action resembling, in many respects, +volcanic action, by which its present surface has been formed.<a name="FNanchor_2_45" id="FNanchor_2_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_45" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> But, +if it have been produced by such internal fires, the fires seem to be +extinguished; the volcanoes to be burned out. It is a mere cinder; a +collection of sheets of rigid slag, and inactive craters. And if the +Moon and the Earth were both, at first in a condition in which igneous +eruptions from their interior produced the ridges and cones which +roughen their surfaces; the Earth has had this state succeeded by a +series of states of life in innumerable forms, till at last it has +become the dwelling-place of man; while the Moon, smaller in dimensions, +has at an earlier period completely cooled down, as to its exterior at +least, without ever being judged fit or worthy by its Creator of being +the seat of life; and remains, hung in the sky, as an object on which +man may <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>gaze, and perhaps, from which he may learn something of the +constitution of the universe; and among other lessons this; that he must +not take for granted, that all the other globes of the solar system are +tenanted, like that on which he has his appointed place.</p> + +<p>9. It is true, that in coming to this conclusion, the astronomers of +whom I speak, have been governed by other reasons, besides those which I +have mentioned, the absence of any changes, either rapid or slow, +discoverable in the Moon's face. They have seen reason to believe that +water and air, elements so essential to terrestrial life, do not exist +in the Moon. The dark spaces on her disk, which were called <i>seas</i> by +those who first depicted them, have an appearance inconsistent with +their being oceans of water. They are not level and smooth, as water +would be; nor uniform in their color, but marked with permanent streaks +and shades, implying a rigid form. And the absence of an atmosphere of +transparent vapor and air, surrounding the moon, as our atmosphere +surrounds the earth, is still more clearly proved, by the absence of all +the optical effects of such an atmosphere, when stars pass behind the +moon's disk, and by the phenomena which are seen in solar eclipses, when +her solid mass is masked by the Sun.<a name="FNanchor_3_46" id="FNanchor_3_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_46" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> This absence of moisture and air +in the Moon, of course, entirely confirms our previous conclusion, of +the absence of vegetable and animal life; and leaves us, as we have +said, to examine the question for the other bodies, on their special +grounds, without any previous presumption that such life exists. +Undoubtedly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>the aspect of the case will be different in one feature, +when we see reason to believe that other bodies have an atmosphere; and +if there be in any planet sufficient light and heat, and clouds and +winds, and a due adjustment of the power of gravity, and the strength of +the materials of which organized frames consist, there may be, so far as +we can judge, life of some kind or other. But yet, even in those cases, +we should be led to judge also, by analogy, that the life which they +sustain is more different from the terrestrial life of the present +period of the earth, than that is from the terrestrial life of any +former geological period, in proportion as the conditions of light and +heat, and attraction and density, are more different on any other +planet, than they can have been on the earth, at any period of its +history.</p> + +<p>10. Let us then consider the state of these elements of being in the +other planets. I have mentioned, among them, the force of gravity, and +the density of materials; because these are important elements in the +question. It may seem strange, that we are able, not only to measure the +planets, but to weigh them; yet so it is. The wonderful discovery of +universal gravitation, so firmly established, as the law which embraces +every particle of matter in the solar system, enables us to do this, +with the most perfect confidence. The revolutions of the satellites +round their primary planets, give us a measure of the force by which the +planets retain them in their orbits; and in this way, a measure of the +quantity of matter of which each planet consists. And other effects of +the same universal law, enable us to measure, though less easily and +less exactly, the masses, even of those planets which have no +satellites. And thus we can, as it were, put the Earth, and Jupiter or +Saturn, in the balance against each other; and tell the proportionate +number of pounds which they would weigh, if so poised. And <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>again, by +another kind of experiment, we can, as we have said, weigh the earth +against a known mountain; or even against a small sphere of lead duly +adjusted for the purpose. And this has been done; and the results are +extremely curious; and very important in our speculations relative to +the constitution of the universe.</p> + +<p>11. And in the first place, we may remark that the Earth is really much +less heavy than we should expect, from what we know of the materials of +which it consists. For, measuring the density, or specific gravity, of +materials, (that is their comparative weight in the same bulk,) by their +proportion to water, which is the usual way, the density of iron is 8, +that of lead 11, that of gold 19: the ordinary rocks at the Earth's +surface have a density of 3 or 4. Moreover, all the substances with +which we are acquainted, contract into a smaller space, and have their +density increased, by being subjected to pressure. Air does this, in an +obvious manner; and hence it is, that the lower parts of our atmosphere +are denser than the upper parts; being pressed by a greater +superincumbent weight, the weight of the superior parts of the +atmosphere itself. Air is thus obviously and eminently elastic. But all +substances, though less obviously and eminently, are still, really, and +in some degree, elastic. They all contract by compression. Water for +instance, if pressed by a column of water 100000 feet high, would be +reduced to a bulk one-tenth less than before. In the same manner iron, +compressed by a column of iron 90000 feet high, loses one-tenth of its +bulk, and of course gains so much in density. And the like takes place, +in different amounts, with all material whatever. This is the rate at +which compression produces its effect of increasing the density, in +bodies which are in the condition of those which lie around us. But if +this law were to go on at the same rate, when the compression <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>is +greatly increased, the density of bodies deep down towards the centre of +the Earth must be immense. The Earth's radius is above 20 million feet. +At a million feet depth we should have matter subjected to the pressure +of a column of a million feet of superincumbent matter, heavier than +water; and hence we should have a compression of water 10 times as great +as we have mentioned; and, therefore, the bulk of the water would be +reduced almost to nothing, its density increased almost indefinitely: +and the same would be the case with other materials, as metals and +stones. If, therefore, this law of compression were to hold for these +great pressures, all materials whatever, contained in the depths of the +Earth's mass, must be immensely denser, and immensely specifically +heavier, than they are at the surface. And thus, the Earth consisting of +these far denser materials towards the centre, but, nearer the surface, +of lighter materials, such as rock, and metals, in their ordinary state, +must, we should expect, be, on the whole, much heavier than if it +consisted of the heaviest ordinary materials; heavier than iron, or than +lead; hundreds of times perhaps heavier than stone.</p> + +<p>12. This, however, is not found to be so. The expectation of the great +density of the Earth, which we might have derived from the known laws of +condensation of terrestrial substances, is not confirmed. The mass of +the Earth being weighed, by means of such processes as we have already +referred to, is found to be only five times heavier than so much water: +less heavy than if it were made of iron: less than twice as heavy as if +it were made of ordinary rock. This, of course, shows us that the +condensation of the interior parts of the Earth's mass, is by no means +so great as we should have expected it to be, from what we know of the +laws of condensation here; and from considering the enormous pressure of +superincumbent <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>materials to which those interior parts are subjected. +The laws of condensation, it would seem, do not go on operating for +these enormous pressures, by the same progression as for smaller +pressure. If a mass of a material is compressed into nine-tenths its +bulk by the weight of a column of 100000 feet high, it does not follow +that it will be again compressed into nine-tenths of its condensed bulk, +by another column of 100000 feet high. The compression and condensation +reach, or tend to, a limit; and probably, before they have gone very +far. It may be possible to compress a piece of iron by one-thousandth +part, even by such forces as we can use; and yet it may not be possible +to compress the same piece of iron into one half its bulk, even by the +weight of the whole Earth, if made to bear upon it. This appears to be +probable: and this will explain, how it is, that the materials of the +Earth are not so violently condensed as we should have supposed; and +thus, why, the Earth is so light.</p> + +<p>13. We must avoid drawing inferences too boldly, on a subject where our +means of knowledge are so obscure as they are with regard to the +interior of the Earth; but yet, perhaps, we may be allowed to say, that +the result which we have just stated, that the Earth is so light, +suggests to us the belief that the interior consists of the same +materials as the exterior, slightly condensed by pressure.<a name="FNanchor_4_47" id="FNanchor_4_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_47" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> We find no +encouragement to believe that there is a nucleus within, of some +material, different from what we have on the outside; some metal, for +instance, heavier than lead. If the earth were of granite, or of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>lava, +to the centre, it would, so far as we can judge, have much the same +weight which it now has. Such a central mass, covered with the various +layers of stone, which form the upper crust of the Earth, would +naturally make this globe of at least the weight which it really has. +And therefore, if we were to learn that a planet was much lighter than +this, as to its materials,—much less dense, taking the whole mass +together,—we should be compelled to infer that it was, throughout, or +nearly so, formed of less compact matter than metal and stone; or else, +that it had internal cavities, or some other complex structure, which it +would be absurd to assume, without positive reasons.</p> + +<p>14. Now having decided these views from an examination of the Earth, let +us apply them to other planets, as bearing upon the question of their +being inhabited; and in the first place, to Jupiter. We can, as we have +said, easily compare the mass of Jupiter and of the Earth; for both of +them have Satellites. It is ascertained, by this means, that the mass of +weight of Jupiter is about 333 times the weight of the earth; but as his +diameter is also 11 times that of the earth, his bulk is 1331 times that +of the earth: (the <i>cube</i> of 11 is 1331); and, therefore, the density of +Jupiter is to that of the earth, only as 333 to 1331, or about 1 to 4. +Thus the density of Jupiter, taken as a whole, is about a quarter of the +earth's density; less than that of any of the stones which form the +crust of the earth; and not much greater than the density of water. +Indeed, it is tolerably certain, that the density of Jupiter is not +greater than it would be, if his entire globe were composed of water; +making allowance for the compression which the interior parts would +suffer by the pressure of those parts superincumbent. We might, +therefore, offer it as a conjecture not quite arbitrary, that Jupiter is +a mere sphere of water.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><p>15. But is there anything further in the appearance of Jupiter, which +may serve to contradict, or to confirm, this conjecture? There is one +circumstance in Jupiter's form, which is, to say the least, perfectly +consistent with the supposition, that he is a fluid mass; namely, that +he is not an exact sphere, but oblate, like an orange. Such a form is +produced, in a fluid sphere, by a rotation upon its axis. It is +produced, even in a sphere which is (at present at least,) partly solid +and partly fluid; and the oblateness of the earth is accounted for in +this way. But Jupiter, who, while he is much larger than the earth, +revolves much more rapidly, is much more oblate than the earth. His +polar and equatorial diameters are in the proportion of 13 to 14. Now it +is a remarkable circumstance, that this is the amount of oblateness, +which, on mechanical principles, would result from his time of +revolution, if he were entirely fluid, and of the same density +throughout.<a name="FNanchor_5_48" id="FNanchor_5_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_48" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> So far, then, we have some confirmation at least, of his +being composed entirely of some fluid which in its density agrees with +water.</p> + +<p>16. But there are other circumstances in the appearances of Jupiter, +which still further confirm this conjecture of his watery constitution. +His belts,—certain bands of darker and lighter color, which run +parallel to his equator, and which, in some degree, change their form, +and breadth, and place, from time to time,—have been conjectured, by +almost all astronomers, to arise from lines of cloud, alternating with +tracts comparatively clear, and having their direction determined by +currents analogous to our trade-winds, but of a much more steady and +decided character, in consequence of the great <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>rotatory velocity.<a name="FNanchor_6_49" id="FNanchor_6_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_49" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +Now vapors, supplying the materials of such masses of cloud, would +naturally be raised from such a watery sphere as we have supposed, by +the action of the Sun; would form such lines; and would change their +form from slight causes of irregularity, as the belts are seen to do. +The existence of these lines of cloud does of itself show that there is +much water on Jupiter's surface, and is quite consistent with our +conjecture, that his whole mass is water.<a name="FNanchor_7_50" id="FNanchor_7_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_50" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<p>17. Perhaps some persons may be disposed to doubt whether, if Jupiter +be, as we suppose, merely or principally a mass of water and of vapor, +we are entitled to extend to him the law of universal gravitation, which +is the basis of our speculations. But this doubt may be easily +dismissed. We <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>know that the waters of the earth are affected by +gravitation; not only towards the earth, as shown by their weight, but +towards those distant bodies, the Sun and the Moon; for this gravitation +produces the tides of the ocean. And our atmosphere also has weight, as +we know; and probably has also solar and lunar tides, though these are +marked by many other causes of diurnal change. We have, then, the same +reason for supposing that air and water, in other parts of the system, +are governed by universal gravitation, and exercise themselves the +attractive force of gravitation, which we have for making the like +suppositions with regard to the most solid bodies. Whatever argument +proves universal gravitation, proves it for all matter alike; and +Newton, in the course of his magnificent generalization of the law, took +care to demonstrate, by experiment, as well as by reasoning, that it +might be so generalized.</p> + +<p>18. As bearing upon the question of life in Jupiter, there is another +point which requires to be considered; the force of gravity at his +surface. Though, equal bulk for equal bulk, he is lighter than the +earth, yet his bulk is so great that, as we have seen, he is altogether +much heavier than the earth. This, his greater mass, makes bodies, at +equal distances from the centres, ponderate proportionally more to him +than they would do to the earth. And though his surface is 11 times +further from his centre than the earth's is, and therefore the gravity +at the surface is thereby diminished, yet, even after this deduction, +gravity at the surface of Jupiter is nearly two and a half times that on +the earth.<a name="FNanchor_8_51" id="FNanchor_8_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_51" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> And thus a man transferred to the surface of Jupiter would +feel a stone, carried in his hands, and would feel his own limbs also, +(for his muscular power would not be altered by the transfer,) become +2<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub></span> times <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>as heavy, as difficult to raise, as they were before. Under +such circumstances animals of large dimensions would be oppressed with +their own weight. In the smaller creatures on the earth, as in insects, +the muscular power bears a great proportion to the weight, and they +might continue to run and to leap, even if gravity were tripled or +quadrupled. But an elephant could not trot with two or three elephants +placed upon his back. A lion or tiger could not spring, with twice or +thrice his own weight hung about his neck. Such an increase of gravity +would be inconsistent then, with the present constitution and life of +the largest terrestrial animals; and if we are to suppose planets +inhabited, in which gravity is much more energetic than it is upon the +earth, we must suppose classes of animals which are adapted to such a +different mechanical condition.</p> + +<p>19. Taking into account then, these circumstances in Jupiter's state; +his (probably) bottomless waters; his light, if any, solid materials; +the strong hand with which gravity presses down such materials as there +are; the small amount of light and heat which reaches him, at 5 times +the earth's distance from the sun; what kind of inhabitants shall we be +led to assign to him? Can they have skeletons where no substance so +dense as bone is found, at least in large masses? It would seem not +probable.<a name="FNanchor_9_52" id="FNanchor_9_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_52" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> And it would seem they must be dwellers in the waters, for +against the existence there of solid land, we have much evidence. They +must, with so little of light and heat, have a low degree of vitality. +They must <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>then, it would seem, be cartilaginous and glutinous masses; +peopling the waters with minute forms: perhaps also with larger +monsters; for the weight of a bulky creature, floating in the fluid, +would be much more easily sustained than on solid ground. If we are +resolved to have such a population, and that they shall live by food, we +must suppose that the waters contain at least so much solid matter as is +requisite for the sustenance of the lowest classes; for the higher +classes of animals will probably find their food in consuming the lower. +I do not know whether the advocates of peopled worlds will think such a +population as this worth contending for: but I think the only doubt can +be, between such a population, and none. If Jupiter be a mere mass of +water, with perhaps a few cinders at the centre, and an envelope of +clouds around it, it seems very possible that he may not be the seat of +life at all. But if life be there, it does not seem in any way likely, +that the living things can be anything higher in the scale of being, +than such boneless, watery, pulpy creatures as I have imagined.</p> + +<p>20. Perhaps it may occur to some one to ask, if this planet, which +presents so glorious an aspect to our eyes, be thus the abode only of +such imperfect and embryotic lumps of vitality as I have described; to +what purpose was all that gorgeous array of satellites appended to him, +which would present, to intelligent spectators on his surface, a +spectacle far more splendid than any that our skies offer to us: four +moons, some as great, and others hardly less, than our moon, performing +their regular revolutions in the vault of heaven. To which it will +suffice, at present, to reply, that the use of those moons, under such a +supposition, would be precisely the same, as the use of our moon, during +the myriads of years which elapsed while the earth was tenanted by +corals and madrepores, shell-fish <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>and belemnites, the cartilaginous +fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, or the Saurian monsters of the Lias; +and in short, through all the countless ages which elapsed, before the +last few thousand years: before man was placed upon the earth "to eye +the blue vault and bless the <i>useful</i> light:" to reckon by it his months +and years: to discover by means of it, the structure of the universe, +and perhaps, the special care of his Creator for him alone of all his +creatures. The moons of Jupiter, may in this way be of use, as our own +moon is. Indeed we know that they have been turned to most important +purposes, in astronomy and navigation. And knowing this, we may be +content not to know how, either the satellites of Jupiter, or the +satellite of the Earth, tend to the advantage of the brute inhabitants +of the waters.</p> + +<p>21. There is another point, connected with this doctrine of the watery +nature of Jupiter, which I may notice, though we have little means of +knowledge on the subject. Jupiter being thus covered with water, is the +water ever converted into ice? The planet is more than 5 times as far +from the sun as the earth is: the heat which he receives is, on that +account, 25 times less than ours. The veil of clouds which covers a +large part of his surface, must diminish the heat still further. What +effect the absence of land produces, on the freezing of the ocean, it is +not easy to say. We cannot, therefore, pronounce with any confidence +whether his waters are ever frozen or not. In the next considerable +planet, Mars, astronomers conceive that they do trace the effects of +frost; but in Mars we have also appearances of land. In Jupiter, we are +left to mere conjecture; whether continents and floating islands of ice +still further chill the fluids of the slimy tribes whom we have been led +to regard as the only possible inhabitants; or whether the watery globe +is converted into a globe of ice; <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>retaining on its surface, of course, +as much fluid as is requisite, under the evaporating power of the sun, +to supply the currents of vapor which form the belts. In this case, +perhaps, we may think it most likely that there are no inhabitants of +these shallow pools in a planet of ice: at any rate, it is not worth +while to provide any new speculations for such a hypothesis.</p> + +<p>22. We may turn our consideration from Jupiter to Saturn; for in many +respects the two planets are very similar. But in almost every point, +which is of force against the hypothesis of inhabitants, the case is +much stronger in Saturn than it is in Jupiter. Light and heat, at his +distance, are only one ninetieth of those at the Earth. None but a very +low degree of vitality can be sustained under such sluggish influences. +The density of his mass is hardly greater than that of cork; much less +than that of water: so that, it does not appear what supposition is left +for us, except that a large portion of the globe, which we see as his, +is vapor. That the outer part of the globe is vapor, is proved, in +Saturn as in Jupiter, by the existence of several cloudy streaks or +belts running round him parallel to his equator. Yet his mass, taken +altogether, is considerable, on account of his great size; and gravity +would be greater, at his outer surface, than it is at the earth's. For +such reasons, then, as were urged in the case of Jupiter, we must either +suppose that he has no inhabitants; or that they are aqueous, gelatinous +creatures; too sluggish, almost to be deemed alive, floating on their +ice-cold waters, shrouded forever by their humid skies.</p> + +<p>23. Whether they have eyes or no, we cannot tell; but probably if they +had, they would never see the Sun; and therefore we need not commiserate +their lot in not seeing the host of Saturnian satellites; and the Ring, +which to an intelligent <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>Saturnian spectator, would be so splendid a +celestial object. The Ring is a glorious object for man's view, and his +contemplation; and therefore is not altogether without its use. Still +less need we (as some appear to do) regard as a serious misfortune to +the inhabitants of certain regions of the planet, a solar eclipse of +fifteen years' duration, to which they are liable by the interposition +of the Ring between them and the Sun.<a name="FNanchor_10_53" id="FNanchor_10_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_53" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>24. The cases of Uranus and Neptune are similar to that of Saturn, but +of course stronger, in proportion to their smaller light and heat. For +Uranus, this is only 1-360th, for Neptune, as we have already said, +1-900th of the light and heat at the earth. Moreover, these two new +planets agree with Jupiter and with Saturn, in being of very large size +and of very small density; and also we may remark, one of them, probably +both, in revolving with great rapidity, and in nearly the same period, +namely, about 10 hours: at least, this has been the opinion of +astronomers with regard to Uranus. The arguments against the hypothesis +of these two planets being inhabited, are of course of the same kind as +in the case of Jupiter and Saturn, but much increased in strength; and +the supposition of the probably watery nature and low vitality of their +inhabitants must be commended to the consideration of those who contend +for inhabitants in those remote regions of the solar system.</p> + +<p>25. We may now return towards the Sun, and direct our attention to the +planet Mars. Here we have some approximation to the condition of the +Earth, in circumstances, as in position. It is true, his light and heat, +so far as distance from the Sun affects them, are less than half those +at the Earth. His density appears to be nearly equal to that of the +Earth, but his mass is so much smaller, that gravity at his surface is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>only one-half of what it is here. Then, as to his physical condition, +so far as we can determine it, astronomers discern in his face<a name="FNanchor_11_54" id="FNanchor_11_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_54" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> the +outlines of continents and seas. The ruddy color by which he is +distinguished, the red and fiery aspect which he presents, arise, they +think, from the color of the land, while the seas appear greenish. +Clouds often seem to intercept the astronomer's view of the globe, which +with its continents and oceans thus revolves under his eye; and that +there is an atmosphere on which such clouds may float, appears to be +further proved, by brilliant white spots at the poles of the planet, +which are conjectured to be snow; for they disappear when they have been +long exposed to the sun, and are greatest when just emerging from the +long night of their polar winter; the snow-line then extending to about +six degrees (reckoned upon the meridian of the planet) from the pole. +Moreover, Mars agrees with the earth, in the period of his rotation; +which is about 24 hours; and in having his axis inclined to his orbit, +so as to produce a cycle of long and short days and nights, a return of +summer and winter, in every revolution of the planet.</p> + +<p>26. We have here a number of circumstances which speak far more +persuasively for a similarity of condition, in this planet and the +Earth, than in any of the cases previously discussed. It is true, Mars +is much smaller than the earth, and has not been judged worthy of the +attendance of a satellite, although further from the Sun; but still, he +may have been judged worthy of inhabitants by his Creator. Perhaps we +are not quite certain about the existence of an atmosphere; and without +such an appendage, we can hardly accord him tenants. But if he have +inhabitants, let us consider of what kind they must be conceived to be, +according to any judgment which we can form. The force of his gravity is +so small, that we may allow <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>his animals to be large, without fearing +that they will break down by their own weight. In a planet so dense, +they may very likely have solid skeletons. The ice about his poles will +cumber the seas, cold even for the want of solar heat, as it does in our +arctic and antarctic oceans; and we may easily imagine that these seas +are tenanted, like those, by huge creatures of the nature of whales and +seals, and by other creatures which the existence of these requires and +implies. Or rather, since, as we have said, we must suppose the +population of other planets to be more different from our existing +population, than the population of other ages of our own planet, we may +suppose the population of the seas and of the land of Mars, (if there be +any, and if we are not carrying it too high in the scale of vital +activity,) to differ from any terrestrial animals, in something of the +same way in which the great land and sea saurians, or the iguanodon and +dinotherium, differed from the animals which now live on the earth.</p> + +<p>27. That we need not discuss the question, whether there are intelligent +beings living on the surface of Mars, perhaps the reader will allow, +till we have some better evidence that there are living things there at +all; if he calls to mind the immense proportion which, on the earth, far +better fitted for the habitation of the only intelligent creature which +we know or can conceive, the duration of unintelligent life has borne to +that of intelligent. Here, on this Earth, a few thousand years ago, +began the life of a creature who can speculate about the past and the +future, the near and the absent, the Universe and its Maker, duty and +immortality. This began a few thousand years ago, after ages and myriads +of ages, after immense varieties of lives and generations, of corals and +mollusks, saurians, iguanodons, and dinotheriums. No doubt the Creator +might place an intelligent creature upon a planet, without all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>this +preparation, all this preliminary life. He has not chosen to do so on +the earth, as we know; and that is by much the best evidence attainable +by us, of what His purposes are. It is also possible that He should, on +another planet, have established creatures of the nature of corals and +mollusks, saurians and iguanodons, without having yet arrived at the +period of intelligent creatures: especially if that other planet have +longer years, a colder climate, a smaller mass, and perhaps no +atmosphere. It is also possible that He should have put that smaller +planet near the Earth, resembling it in some respects, as the Moon does, +but without any inhabitants, as she has none; and that Mars may be such +a planet. The probability against such a belief can hardly be considered +as strong, if the arguments already offered be regarded as effective +against the opinion of inhabitants in the other planets, and in the +Moon.</p> + +<p>28. The numerous tribe of small bodies, which revolve between Jupiter +and Mars, do not admit of much of the kind of reasoning, which we have +applied to the larger planets. They have, with perhaps one exception +(Vesta) no disk of visible magnitude; they are mere dots, and we do not +even know that their form is spherical. The near coincidence of their +orbits has suggested, to astronomers, the conjecture that they have +resulted from the explosion of a larger body, and from its fracture into +fragments. Perhaps the general phenomena of the universe suggest rather +the notion of a collapse of portions of sidereal matter, than of a +sudden disruption and dispersion of any portion of it; and these small +bodies may be the results of some imperfectly effected concentration of +the elements of our system; which, if it had gone on more completely and +regularly, might have produced another planet, like Mars or Venus. +Perhaps they are only the larger masses, among a great number of smaller +ones, resulting from such a process: <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>and it is very conceivable, that +the meteoric stones which, from time to time, have fallen upon the +earth's surface, are other results of the like process:—bits of planets +which have failed in the making, and lost their way, till arrested by +the resistance of the earth's atmosphere. A remarkable circumstance in +these bodies is, that though thus coming apparently from some remote +part of the system, they contain no elements but such as had already +been found to exist in the mass of the earth; although some substances, +as nickel and chrome, which are somewhat rare in the earth's materials, +are common parts of the composition of meteoric stones. Also they are of +crystalline structure, and exhibit some peculiarities in their +crystallization. Such as these strange visitors are, they seem to show +that the other parts of the solar system contain the same elementary +substances, and are subject to the same laws of chemical synthesis and +crystalline force, which obtain in the terrestrial region. The smallness +of these specimens is a necessary condition of their reaching us; for if +they had been more massive, they would have followed out the path of +their orbits round the sun, however eccentric these might be. The great +eccentricity of the smaller planets, their great deviation from the +zodiacal path, which is the highway of the large planets, their great +number, probably by no means yet exhausted by the discoveries of +astronomers; all fall in with the supposition that there are, in the +solar system, a vast multitude of such abnormal planetoidal lumps. As I +have said, we do not even know that they are approximately spherical; +and if they are of the nature of meteoric stones, they are mere crude +and irregularly crystallized masses of metal and earth. It will +therefore, probably, be deemed unnecessary to give other reasons why +these planetoids are not inhabited. But if it be granted that they are +not, we have here, in addition to the moon, a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>large array of examples, +to prove how baseless is the assumption, that all the bodies of the +solar system are the seats of life.</p> + +<p>29. We have thus performed our journey from the extremest verge of the +Universe, so far as we have any knowledge of it, to the orbit of our own +planet; and have found, till we came into our own most immediate +vicinity, strong reasons for rejecting the assumption of inhabited +worlds like our own; and indeed, of the habitation of worlds in any +sense. And even if Mars, in his present condition, may be some image of +the Earth, in some of its remote geological periods, it is at least +equally possible that he may be an image of the Earth, in the still +remoter geological period before life began. Of peculiar fitnesses which +make the earth suited to the sustentation of life, as we know that it +is, we shall speak hereafter; and at present pass on to the other +planets, Venus and Mercury. But of these, there is, in our point of +view, very little to say. Venus, which, when nearest to us, fills a +larger angle than any other celestial body, except the Sun and the Moon, +might be expected to be the one of which we know most. Yet she is really +one of the most difficult to scrutinize with our telescopes. Astronomers +cannot discover in her, as in Mars, any traces of continents and seas, +mountains and valleys; at least with any certainty.<a name="FNanchor_12_55" id="FNanchor_12_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_55" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Her illuminated +part shines with an intense lustre which dazzles the sight;<a name="FNanchor_13_56" id="FNanchor_13_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_56" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> yet she +is of herself perfectly dark; and it was the discovery, that she +presented the phases of the Moon, made by the telescope of Galileo, +which gave the first impulse to planetary research. She is almost as +large as the earth; almost as heavy. The light and heat which she +receives <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>from the Sun must be about double those which come to the +earth. We discern no traces of a gaseous or watery atmosphere +surrounding her. Perhaps if we could see her better, we might find that +she had a surface like the moon; or perhaps, in the nearer neighborhood +of the sun, she may have cooled more slowly and quietly, like a glass +which is annealed in the fire; and hence, may have a smooth surface, +instead of the furrowed and pimpled visage which the Moon presents to +us. With this ignorance of her conditions, it is hard to say what kind +of animals we could place in her, if we were disposed to people her +surface; except perhaps the microscopic creatures, with siliceous +coverings, which, as modern explorers assert, are almost indestructible +by heat. To believe that she has a surface like the earth, and tribes of +animals, like terrestrial animals, and like man, is an exercise of +imagination, which not only is quite gratuitous, but contrary to all the +information which the telescope gives us; and with this remark, we may +dismiss the hypothesis.</p> + +<p>30. Of Mercury we know still less. He receives seven times as much light +and heat as the Earth; is much smaller than the earth, but perhaps more +dense; and has not, so far as we can tell, any of the conditions which +make animal existence conceivable. If it is so difficult to find +suitable inhabitants for Venus, the difficulty for Mercury is immensely +greater.</p> + +<p>31. So far then, we have traversed the Solar System, and have found even +here, the strongest grounds that there can be no animal existence, like +that which alone we can conceive as animal existence, except in the +planet next beyond the earth, Mars; and there, not without great +modifications. But we may make some further remarks on the condition of +the several planets, with regard to what appears to us to be the +necessary elements of animal life.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_44" id="Footnote_1_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_44"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> More recently, at the meeting of the British Association in +September, 1853, Professor Phillips has declared, that astronomers can +discern the shape of a spot on the Moon's surface, which is a few +hundred feet in breadth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_45" id="Footnote_2_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_45"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A person visiting the Eifel, a region of extinct volcanoes, +west of the Rhine, can hardly fail to be struck with the resemblance of +the craters there, to those seen in the moon through a telescope.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_46" id="Footnote_3_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_46"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Bessel has discussed and refuted (it was hardly necessary) +the conjecture of some persons (he describes them as "the feeling hearts +who would find sympathy even in the Moon") that there may be in the +Moon's valleys air enough to support life, though it does not rise above +the hills.—<i>Populäre Vorlesungen</i>, p. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_47" id="Footnote_4_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_47"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The doctrine that the interior nucleus of the Earth is +fluid, whether accepted or rejected, does not materially affect this +argument. It appears, that in some cases, at least, the melting of +substances is prevented, by their being subjected to extreme pressure; +but the density, the element from which we reason, is measured by +methods quite independent of such questions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_48" id="Footnote_5_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_48"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Herschel, 512. Bessel, however, holds that the oblateness +of Jupiter proves that his interior is somewhat denser than his +exterior. <i>Pop. Vorles.</i> p. 91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_49" id="Footnote_6_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_49"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Herschel, 513.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_50" id="Footnote_7_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_50"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> A difficulty may be raised, founded on what we may suppose +to be the fact, as to the extreme cold of those regions of the Solar +System. It may be supposed that water under such a temperature could +exist in no other form than ice. And that the cold must there be +intense, according to our notion, there is strong reason to believe. +Even in the outer regions of our atmosphere, the cold is probably very +many degrees below freezing, and in the blank and airless void beyond, +it may be colder still. It has been calculated by physical philosophers, +on grounds which seem to be solid, that the cold of the space beyond our +atmosphere is 100° below zero. The space near to Jupiter, if an absolute +vacuum, in which there is no matter to receive and retain heat emitted +from the Sun, may, perhaps, be no colder than it is nearer the Sun. And +as to the effect the great cold would produce on Jupiter's watery +material, we may remark, that if there be a free surface, there will be +vapor produced by the Sun's heat; and if there be air, there will be +clouds. We may add, that so far as we have reason to believe, below the +freezing point, no accession of cold produces any material change in +ice. Even in the expeditions of our Arctic navigators, a cold of 40° +below zero was experienced, and ice was still but ice, and there were +vapors and clouds as in our climate. It is quite an arbitrary +assumption, to suppose that any cold which may exist in Jupiter would +prevent the state of things which we suppose.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_51" id="Footnote_8_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_51"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Herschel, 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_52" id="Footnote_9_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_52"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> It may be thought fanciful to suppose that because there is +little or no solid matter (of any kind known to us) in Jupiter, his +animals are not likely to have solid skeletons. The analogy is not very +strong; but also, the weight assigned to it in the argument is small. +<i>Valeat quantum valere debet.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_53" id="Footnote_10_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_53"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Herschel, 522.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_54" id="Footnote_11_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_54"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Herschel, 510.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_55" id="Footnote_12_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_55"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> According to Bessel, Schroeter <i>once</i> saw one bright point +on the dark ground, near the boundary of light in Venus. This was taken +as proving a mountain, estimated at 60,000 feet high. <i>Pop. Vorles.</i> p. +86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_56" id="Footnote_13_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_56"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Herschel, 509.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class="center">THEORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.</p> + + +<p>1. We have given our views respecting the various planets which +constitute the Solar System;—views established, it would seem, by all +that we know, of the laws of heat and moisture, density and attraction, +organization and life. We have examined and reasoned upon the cases of +the different planets separately. But it may serve to confirm this view, +and to establish it in the reader's mind, if we give a description of +the system which shall combine and connect the views which we have +presented, of the constitution and peculiarities, as to physical +circumstances, of each of the planets. It will help us in our +speculations, if we can regard the planets not only as a collection, but +as a scheme;—if we can give, not an enumeration only, but a theory. Now +such a scheme, such a theory, appears to offer itself to us.</p> + +<p>2. The planets exterior to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn especially, as the +best known of them, appear, by the best judgment which we can form, to +be spheres of water, and of aqueous vapor, combined, it may be, with +atmospheric air, in which their cloudy belts float over their deep +oceans. Mars seems to have some portion at least of aqueous atmosphere; +the earth, we know, has a considerable atmosphere of air, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>of vapor; +but the Moon, so near to her mistress, has none. On Venus and Mercury, +we see nothing of a gaseous or aqueous atmosphere; and they, and Mars, +do not differ much in their density from the Earth. Now, does not this +look as if the water and the vapor, which belong to the solar system, +were driven off into the outer regions of its vast circuit; while the +solid masses which are nearest to the focus of heat, are all +approximately of the same nature? And if this be so, what is the +peculiar physical condition which we are led to ascribe to the Earth? +Plainly this: that she is situated just in that region of the system, +where the existence of matter, both in a solid, a fluid, and a gaseous +condition, is possible. Outside the Earth's orbit, or at least outside +Mars and the small Planetoids, there is, in the planets, apparently, no +solid matter; or rather, if there be, there is a vast preponderance of +watery and vaporous matter. Inside the Earth's orbit, we see, in the +planets, no traces of water or vapor, or gas; but solid matter, about +the density of terrestrial matter. The Earth, alone, is placed at the +border where the conditions of life are combined; ground to stand upon; +air to breathe; water to nourish vegetables, and thus, animals; and +solid matter to supply the materials for their more solid parts; and +with this, a due supply of light and heat, a due energy of the force of +weight. All these conditions are, in our conception, requisite for life: +that all these conditions meet, elsewhere than in the neighborhood of +the Earth's orbit, we see strong reasons to disbelieve. The Earth, then, +it would seem, is the abode of life, not because all the globes which +revolve round the Sun may be assumed to be the abodes of life; but +because the Earth is fitted to be so, by a curious and complex +combination of properties and relations, which do not at all apply to +the others. That the Earth is inhabited, is not a reason for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>believing +that the other Planets are so, but for believing that they are not so.</p> + +<p>3. Can we see any physical reason, for the fact which appears to us so +probable, that all the water and vapor of the system is gathered in its +outward parts? It would seem that we can. Water and aqueous vapor are +driven from the Sun to the outer parts of the solar system, or are +allowed to be permanent there only, as they are driven off and retained +at a distance by any other source of heat;—to use a homely +illustration, as they are driven from wet objects placed near the +kitchen-fire: as they are driven from the hot sands of Egypt into the +upper air: as they are driven from the tropics to the poles. In this +latter case, and generally, in all cases, in which vapor is thus driven +from a hotter region, when it comes into a colder, it may again be +condensed in water, and fall in rain. So the cold of the air in the +temperate zone condenses the aqueous vapors which flow from the tropics; +and so, we have our clouds and our showers. And as there is this rainy +region, indistinctly defined, between the torrid and the frigid zones on +the earth; so is there a region of clouds and rain, of air and water, +much more precisely defined, in the solar system, between the central +torrid zone and the external frigid zone which surrounds the Sun at a +greater distance.</p> + +<p>4. <i>The Earth's Orbit is the Temperate Zone of the Solar System.</i> In +that Zone only is the play of Hot and Cold, of Moist and Dry, possible. +The Torrid Zone of the Earth is not free from moisture; it has its +rains, for it has its upper colder atmosphere. But how much hotter are +Venus and Mercury than the Torrid Zone? There, no vapors can linger; +they are expelled by the fierce solar energy; and there is no cool +stratum to catch them and return them. If they were there, they must fly +to the outer regions; to the cold abodes of Jupiter <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>and Saturn, if on +their way, the Earth did not with cold and airy finger outstretched +afar, catch a few drops of their treasures, for the use of plant, and +beast, and man. The solid stone only, and the metallic ore which can be +fused and solidified with little loss of substance, can bear the +continual force of the near solar fire, and be the material of permanent +solid planets in that region. But the lava pavement of the Inner Planets +bears no superstructure of life; for all life would be scorched away +along with water, its first element. On the Earth first, can this +superstructure be raised; and there, through we know not what graduation +of forms, the waters were made to bring forth abundantly things that had +life; plants, and animals nourished by plants, and conspiring with them, +to feed on their respective appointed elements, in the air which +surrounded them. And so, nourished by the influences of air and water, +plants and animals lived and died, and were entombed in the scourings of +the land, which the descending streams carried to the bottom of the +waters. And then, these beds of dead generations were raised into +mountain ranges; perhaps by the yet unextinguished forces of +subterraneous fires. And then a new creation of plants and animals +succeeded; still living under the fostering influence of the united +pair, Air and Water, which never ceased to brood over the World of Life, +their Nurseling; and then, perhaps, a new change of the limits of land +and water, and a new creation again: till at last, Man was placed upon +the Earth; with far higher powers, and far different purposes, from any +of the preceding tribes of creatures: and with this, for one of his +offices;—that there might be an intelligent being to learn how +wonderfully the scheme of creation had been carried on, and to admire, +and to worship the Creator.</p> + +<p>5. But we have a few more remarks to make on the structure <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>of the Solar +System, in this point of view. When we say that the water and vapor of +the System were driven to the outer parts, or retained there, by the +central heat of the Sun, perhaps it might be supposed to be most simple +and natural, that the aqueous vapor, and the water, should assume its +place in a distinct circle, or rather a spherical shell, of which the +Sun was the centre; thus making an elemental sphere about the centre, +such as the ancients imagined in their schemes of the Universe. Nor will +we venture to say that such an arrangement of elements might not be; +though perhaps it might be shown that no stable equilibrium of the +system would be, in this way, mechanically possible. But this at least +we may say; that a rotatory motion of all the parts of the universe +appears to be a universal law prevalent in it, so far as our observation +can reach: and that, by such rotation of the separate masses, the whole +is put in a condition which is everywhere one of stable equilibrium. It +was, then, agreeable to the general scheme, that the excess of water and +vapor, which must necessarily be carried away, or stored up, in the +outer regions of the System, should be put into shapes in which it +should have a permanent place and form. And thus, it is suitable to the +general economy of creation, that this water and vapor should be packed +into rotating masses, such as are Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and +Neptune. When once collected in such rotating masses, the attraction of +its parts would gather it into spheroidal forms; oblate by the effect of +rotation, as Jupiter, or perhaps into annular forms, like the Ring of +Saturn;<a name="FNanchor_1_57" id="FNanchor_1_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_57" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> for such also is a mechanically possible form of equilibrium, +for a fluid mass. And these spheroids once formed, the water would form +a central nucleus, over which would hang a cover of vapor, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>raised by +the evaporating power of the Sun, and forming clouds, where the rarity +of the upper strata of vapor allowed the cold of the external space to +act; and these clouds, spun into belts by the rotation of the sphere. +And thus, the vapor, which would otherwise have wandered loose about the +atmosphere, was neatly wound into balls; which, again, were kept in +their due place, by being made to revolve in nearly circular orbits +about the Sun.</p> + +<p>6. And thus, according to our view, water and gases, clouds and vapors, +form mainly the planets in the outer part of the solar system; while +masses such as result from the fusion of the most solid materials, lie +nearer the sun, and are found principally within the orbit of +Jupiter.<a name="FNanchor_2_58" id="FNanchor_2_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_58" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> To conceive planetary systems as formed by the gradual +contraction of a nebular mass, and by the solidification of some of its +parts, is a favorite notion of several speculators. If we adopt this +notion, we shall, I think, find additional proofs in favor of our view +of the system. For, in the first place, we have the zodiacal light, a +nebulous appendage to the Sun, as Herschel conceives, extending beyond +the orbits of Mercury and Venus. These planets, then, have not yet fully +emerged from the atmosphere in which they had their origin:—the +<i>mother-light</i> and <i>mother-fire</i>, in which they began to crystallize, as +crystals do in their mother-water. Though they are already opaque, they +are still immersed in luminous vapor: and bearing such traces of their +chaotic state being not yet ended, we need not wonder, if we find no +evidence of their having inhabitants, and some evidence to the contrary. +They are within a nebular region, which may <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>easily be conceived to be +uninhabitable. And where this nebular region, marked by the zodiacal +light, terminates, the world of life begins, namely at the Earth.</p> + +<p>7. But further, outside this region of the Earth, what do we find in the +solar system? Of solid matter, if our views are right, we find nothing +but an immense number of small bodies; namely, first, Mars, who, as we +have said, is only about one-eighth the earth in mass: the twenty-six +small planetoids, (or whatever number may have been discovered when +these pages meet the reader's eye,<a name="FNanchor_3_59" id="FNanchor_3_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_59" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>) between Mars and Jupiter; the +four satellites of Jupiter; the eight satellites of Saturn; the six (if +that be the true number,) satellites of Uranus; and the one satellite of +Neptune, already detected. It is very remarkable, that all this array of +small bodies begins to be found just outside the Earth's orbit. +Supposing, as we have found so much reason to suppose, that Jupiter, and +the other exterior planets, are not solid bodies, but masses of water +and of vapor; the existence of great solid planetary masses, such as +exist in the region of the Earth's orbit, is succeeded externally by the +existence of a vast number of smaller bodies. The real quantity of +matter in these smaller bodies we cannot in general determine. Perhaps +the largest of them, (after Mars,) may be Jupiter's third satellite; +which<a name="FNanchor_4_60" id="FNanchor_4_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_60" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> is reckoned, by Laplace, to have a mass less than 1-10,000th of +that of Jupiter himself; and thus, since Jupiter, as we have seen, has a +mass 333 times that of the Earth, the satellite would be above 1-30th of +the Earth's mass.<a name="FNanchor_5_61" id="FNanchor_5_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_61" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> That none but masses of this size, and many far +below this, are found <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>outside of Mars, appears to indicate, that the +<i>planet-making</i> powers which were efficacious to this distance from the +sun, and which produced the great globe of the Earth, were, beyond this +point, feebler; so that they could only give birth to smaller masses; to +planetoids, to satellites, and to meteoric stones. Perhaps we may +describe this want of energy in the planet-making power, by saying, that +at so great a distance from the central fire, there was not heat enough +to melt together these smaller fragments into a larger globe;<a name="FNanchor_6_62" id="FNanchor_6_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_62" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> or +rather, when they existed in a nebular, perhaps in a gaseous state, that +there was not heat enough to keep them in that state, till the +attraction of the parts of all of them had drawn them into one mass, +which might afterwards solidify into a single globe. The tendency of +nebular matter to separate into distinct portions, which may afterwards +be more and more detached from each other, so as to break the nebulous +light into patches and specks, appears to be seen in the structure of +the resolvable nebulæ, as we have already had occasion to notice. And +according to the view we are now taking, we may conceive such patches, +by further cooling and concentration, to remain luminous as comets, and +perhaps shooting stars; or to become opaque as planets, planetoids, +satellites, or meteoric stones. And here we may call to mind what we +have already said, that the meteoric stones consist of the same elements +as those of the earth, combined by the same laws; and thus appear to +bring us a message from the other solid planets, that they also have the +same elements and the same chemical forces as the earth has.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p><p>8. It has already been supposed, by many astronomers, that shooting +stars, and meteoric stones, are bodies of connected nature and origin; +and that they are cosmical, not terrestrial bodies;—parts of the solar +system, not merely appendages to the earth. It has been conceived, that +the luminous masses, which appear as shooting stars, when they are +without the sphere of terrestrial influences, may, when they reach our +atmosphere, collapse into such solid lumps as have from time to time +fallen upon the earth's surface: many of them, with such sudden +manifestations of light and heat, as implied some rapid change taking +place in their chemical constitution and consistence. If shooting stars +are of this nature, then, in those cases in which a great number of them +appear in close succession, we have evidence that there is a region in +which there is a large collection of matter of a nebulous kind, +collected already into small clouds, and ready, by any additional touch +of the powers that hover round the earth, to be further consolidated +into planetary matter. That the earth's orbit carries her through such +regions, in her annual course, we have evidence, in the curious fact, +now so repeatedly observed, of showers of shooting stars, seen at +particular seasons of every year; especially about the 13th of November, +and the 10th of August. This phenomenon has been held, most reasonably, +to imply that at those periods of the year, the earth passes through a +crowd of such meteor-planets, which form a ring round the sun; and +revolving round him, like the other planets, retain their place in the +system from year to year.<a name="FNanchor_7_63" id="FNanchor_7_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_63" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> It may be that the orbits of these +meteor-planets are very elliptical. That they are to a certain extent +elliptical, appears to be shown, by our falling in with them only once a +year, not every half year, as we should do, if their orbit, being nearly +circular, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>met the earth's orbit in two opposite points. That the +shooting stars, thus seen in great numbers when the earth is at certain +points of her orbit, are really planetoidal bodies, appears to be +further proved by this;—that they all seem to move nearly in the same +direction.<a name="FNanchor_8_64" id="FNanchor_8_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_64" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> They are, each of them, visible for a short time only, +(indeed commonly only for a few seconds), while they are nearest the +earth; much in the same way in which a comet is visible only for a small +portion of its path: and this portion is described in a short time, +because they move near the earth. They are so small that a little change +of distance removes them beyond our vision.</p> + +<p>9. Perhaps these revolving specks of nebulæ are the outriders of the +zodiacal light; portions of it, which, being external to the permanently +nebulous central mass, have broken into patches, and are seen as stars +for the moment that we are near to them. And if this be true, we have to +correct, in a certain way, what we have previously said of the zodiacal +light;—that no one had thought of resolving it into stars: for it would +thus appear, that in its outer region, it resolves itself into stars, +visible, though but for a moment, to the naked eye.</p> + +<p>10. And thus, all these phenomena concur in making it appear probable, +that the Earth is placed in that region of the solar system in which the +planet-forming powers are most vigorous and potent;—between the region +of permanent nebulous vapor, and the region of mere shreds and specks of +planetary matter, such as are the satellites and the planetoidal group. +And from these views, finally it follows, that the Earth is really the +largest planetary body in the Solar System. The vast globes of Jupiter +and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which roll far above her, are still only +huge masses of cloud and vapor, water and air; which, from their +enormous <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>size, are ponderous enough to retain round them a body of +small satellites, perhaps, in some degree at least, solid; and which +have perhaps a small lump, or a few similar lumps, of planetary matter +at the centre of their watery globe. The Earth is really the domestic +hearth of this Solar System; adjusted between the hot and fiery haze on +one side, the cold and watery vapor on the other. This region only is +fit to be a domestic hearth, a seat of habitation; and in this region is +placed the largest solid globe of our system; and on this globe, by a +series of creative operations, entirely different from any of those +which separated the solid from the vaporous, the cold from the hot, the +moist from the dry, have been established, in succession, plants, and +animals, and man. So that the habitation has been occupied; the domestic +hearth has been surrounded by its family; the fitnesses so wonderfully +combined have been employed; and the Earth alone, of all the parts of +the frame which revolves round the Sun, has become a World.</p> + +<p>11. Perhaps it may tend still further to illustrate, and to fix in the +reader's mind, the view of the constitution of the solar system here +given, if we remark an analogy which exists, in this respect, between +the Earth in particular, and the Solar System in general. The earth, +like the central parts of the system, is warmed by the sun; and hence, +drives off watery vapors into the circumambient space, where they are +condensed by the cold. The upper regions of the atmosphere, like the +outer regions of the solar system, form the vapors thus raised into +clouds, which are really only water in minute drops; while in the solar +system, the cold of the outer regions, and the rotation of the masses +themselves, maintain the water, and the vapor, in immense spheres. But +Jupiter and Saturn may be regarded as, in many respects, immense clouds; +the continuous <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>water being collected at their centres, while the more +airy and looser parts circulate above. They are the permanent +receptacles of the superfluous water and air of the system. What is not +wanted on the Earth, is stored up there, and hangs above us, far removed +from our atmosphere; but yet, like the clouds in our atmosphere, an +example, what glorious objects accumulations of vapor and water, +illuminated by the rays of the sun, may become in our eyes.</p> + +<p>12. These views are so different from those hitherto generally +entertained, and considered as having a sort of religious dignity +belonging to them, that we may fear, at first at least, they will appear +to many, rash and fanciful, and almost, as we have said, irreverent. On +the question of reverence we may hereafter say a few words; but as to +the rashness of these views, we would beg the reader, calmly and +dispassionately, to consider the very extraordinary number of points in +the solar system, hitherto unexplained, which they account for, or, at +least reduce into consistency and connection, in a manner which seems +wonderful. The Theory, as we may perhaps venture to call it, brings +together all these known phenomena;—the great size and small density of +the exterior planets;—their belts and streaks;—Saturn's +ring;—Jupiter's oblateness;—the great number of satellites of the +exterior planets;—the numerous group of planetoid bodies between +Jupiter and Mars;—the appearance of definite shapes of land and water +on Mars;—the showers of shooting stars which appear at certain periods +of the year;—the Zodiacal Light;—the appearance of Venus as different +from Mars;—and finally, the material composition of meteoric stones.</p> + +<p>13. Perhaps there are other phenomena which more readily find an +explanation in this theory, than in any other: for instance, the recent +discovery of a dim half-transparent ring, as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>an appendage to the +luminous ring of Saturn, which has hitherto alone been observed. Perhaps +this is the ring of vapor which may naturally be expected to accompany +the ring of water. It is the annular atmosphere of the aqueous annulus. +But, the discovery of this faint ring being so new, and hitherto not +fully unfolded, we shall not further press the argument, which, +hereafter, perhaps, may be more confidently derived from its existence.</p> + +<p>14. There are some other facts in the Solar System, which, we can hardly +doubt, must have a bearing upon the views which we have urged; though we +cannot yet undertake to explain that bearing fully. Not only do all the +planetary bodies of the solar system, as well as the Sun himself, +revolve upon their axes; but there is a very curious fact relative to +these revolutions, which appears to point out a further connection among +them. So far as has yet been ascertained, all those which we, in our +theory, regard as solid bodies, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, +revolve in very nearly the same time: namely, in about twenty-four +hours. All those larger masses, on the other hand, which we, in our +theory, hold to be watery planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, revolve, not +in a longer time, as would perhaps have been expected, from their +greater size, but in a shorter time; in less than half the time; in +about ten hours. The near agreement of the times of revolution in each +of these two groups, is an extremely curious fact; and cannot fail to +lead our thoughts to the probability of some common original cause of +these motions. But no such common cause has been suggested, by any +speculator on these subjects. If, in this blank, even of hypotheses, one +might be admitted, as at least a mode of connecting the facts, we might +say, that the compound collection of solid materials, water, and air, of +which the solar system consists, and of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>which our earth alone, perhaps, +retains the combination, being, by whatever means, set a spinning round +an axis, at the rate of one revolution in 24 hours, the solid masses +which were detached from it, not being liable to much contraction, +retained their rate of revolution; while the vaporous masses which were +detached from the fluid and airy part, contracting much, when they came +into a colder region, increased their rate of revolution on account of +their contraction. That such an acceleration of the rate of revolution +would be the result of contraction, is known from mechanical principles; +and indeed, is evident: for the contraction of a circular ring of such +matter into a narrower compass, would not diminish the linear velocity +of its elements, while it would give them a smaller path to describe in +their revolutions. Such an hypothesis would account, therefore, both for +the nearly equal times of revolution of all the solid planets, and for +the smaller period of rotation, which the larger planets show.</p> + +<p>15. In what manner, however, portions are to be detached from such a +rotating mass, so as to form solid planets on the one side, and watery +planets on the other, and how these planets, so detached, are to be made +to revolve round the Sun, in orbits nearly circular, we have no +hypothesis ready to explain. And perhaps we may say, that no +satisfactory, or even plausible, hypothesis to explain these facts, has +been proposed: for the Nebular Hypothesis, the only one which is likely +to be considered as worthy any notice on this subject, is too +imperfectly worked out, as yet, to enable us to know, what it will or +will not account for. According to that hypothesis, the nebular matter +of a system, having originally a rotatory motion, gradually contracts; +and separating, at various distances from the centre, forms rings; which +again, breaking at some point of their circumference, are, by the mutual +attraction of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>their parts, gathered up into one mass; which, when +cooled down, so as to be opaque, becomes a planet; still revolving round +the luminous mass which remains at the centre. That such a process, if +we suppose the consistency, and other properties, of the nebulous matter +to be such as to render it possible, would produce planetary masses +revolving round a sun in nearly circular orbits, and rotating about +their own axes, seems most likely; though it does not appear that it has +been very clearly shown.<a name="FNanchor_9_65" id="FNanchor_9_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_65" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> But no successful attempt has been made to +deduce any laws of the distances from the centre, times of rotation, or +other properties of such planets; and therefore, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>we cannot say that the +nebular hypothesis is yet in any degree confirmed.</p> + +<p>16. The Theory which we have ventured to propose, of the Solar System, +agrees with the Nebular Hypothesis, so far as that hypothesis goes; if +we suppose that there is, at the centre of the exterior planets, +Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, a solid nucleus, probably small, +of the same nature as the other planets. Such an addition to our theory +is, perhaps, on all accounts, probable: for that circumstance would seem +to determine, to particular points, the accumulation of water and +vapors, to which we hold that those planets owe the greater part of +their bulk. Those planets then, Jupiter, Saturn, and the others, are +really small solid planets, with enormous oceans and atmospheres. The +Nebular Hypothesis, in that case, is that part of our Hypothesis, which +relates to the condensation of luminous nebular matter; while <i>we</i> +consider, further, the causes which, scorching the inner planets, and +driving the vapors to the outer orbs, would make the region of the earth +the only habitable part of the system.</p> + +<p>17. The belief that other planets, as well as our own, are the seats of +habitation of living things, has been entertained, in general, not in +consequence of physical reasons, but in spite of physical reasons; and +because there were conceived to be other reasons, of another kind, +theological or philosophical, for such a belief. It was held that Venus, +or that Saturn, was inhabited, not because any one could devise, with +any degree of probability, any organized structure which would be +suitable to animal existence on the surfaces of those planets; but +because it was conceived that the greatness or goodness of the Creator, +or His wisdom, or some other of His attributes, would be manifestly +imperfect, if these planets were not tenanted by living creatures. The +evidences of design, of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>which we can trace so many, and such striking +examples, in our own sphere, the sphere of life, must, it was assumed, +exist, in the like form, in every other part of the universe. The +disposition to regard the Universe in this point of view, is very +general; the disinclination to accept any change in our belief which +seems, for a time, to interfere with this view, is very strong; and the +attempt to establish the necessity of new views discrepant from these +has, in many eyes, an appearance as if it were unfriendly to the best +established doctrines of Natural Theology. All these apprehensions will, +we trust, be shown, in the sequel, to be utterly unfounded: and in order +that any such repugnance to the doctrines here urged, may not linger in +the reader's mind, we shall next proceed to contemplate the phenomena of +the universe in their bearing upon such speculations.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_57" id="Footnote_1_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_57"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Other speculators also have regarded Saturn's Ring as a +ring of cloud or water. See <i>Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">iii</span>. 527 and 553.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_58" id="Footnote_2_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_58"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Humboldt has already remarked <i>(Cosmos</i>, <span class="smcap">i</span>. 95, and <span class="smcap">iii</span>. +427), that the inner planets as far as Mars, and the outer ones +beginning with Jupiter, form two groups having different properties. +Also Encke. (See Humboldt's Note.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_59" id="Footnote_3_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_59"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Printed Oct. 19, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_60" id="Footnote_4_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_60"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Herschel, 540.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_61" id="Footnote_5_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_61"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> It is probable, from the small density of Jupiter's +satellites, that they also consist in a great measure of water and +vapor. Only one of them is denser than Jupiter himself.—<i>Cosmos</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_62" id="Footnote_6_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_62"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> It has, in our own day, even in the present year, been +regarded as a great achievement of man to direct the fiery influences +which he can command, so as to cast a colossal statue in a single piece, +instead of casting it in several portions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_63" id="Footnote_7_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_63"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Herschel, 900-905.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_64" id="Footnote_8_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_64"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Herschel, 901.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_65" id="Footnote_9_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_65"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Besides the curious relation of the times of rotation of +the planets, just noticed, there is another curious relation, of their +distance from the Sun, which any one, wishing to frame an hypothesis on +the origin of our Solar System, ought by all means to try to account +for. +</p><p> +The distances from the Sun, of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +the Planetoids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, are nearly as the numbers, +</p><p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">4, 7, 10, 16, 28, 52, 100, 196:</span> +</p><p> +now the excesses of each of these numbers above the first are, +</p><p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">3, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96:</span> +</p><p> +a series in which each term (after the first,) is double of the +preceding one. Hence, the distances of the planets conform to a series +following this law, (<i>Bode's law</i>, as it is termed.) And though the law +is by no means exact, yet it was so far considered a probable expression +of a general fact, that the deviation from this law, in the interval +between Mars and Jupiter, was the principal cause which led first to the +suspicion of a planet interposed in the seemingly vacant space; and thus +led to the discovery of the planetoids, which really occupy that region. +It is true, that the law is found not to hold, in the case of the +newly-discovered planet Neptune; for his distance from the Sun, which +according to this law, should be 388, is really only 300, 30 times the +Earth's distance, instead of 39 times. Still, Bode's law has a +comprehensive approximate reality in the Solar System, sufficient to +make it a strong recommendation of any hypothesis of the origin of the +system, that it shall account for this law. This, however, the nebular +hypothesis does not.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN.</p> + + +<p>1. There is no more worthy or suitable employment of the human mind, +than to trace the evidences of Design and Purpose in the Creator, which +are visible in many parts of the Creation. The conviction thus obtained, +that man was formed by the wisdom, and is governed by the providence, of +an intelligent and benevolent Being, is the basis of Natural Religion, +and thus, of all Religion. We trust that some new lights will be thrown +upon the traces of Design which the Universe offers, even in the work +now before the reader; and as our views, regarding the plan of such +Design, are different, in some respects, and especially as relates to +the Planets and Stars, from those which have of late been generally +entertained, it will be proper to make some general remarks, mainly +tending to show, that the argument remains undisturbed, though the +physical theory is changed.</p> + +<p>2. It cannot surprise any one who has attended to the history of +science, to find that the views, even of the most philosophical minds, +with regard to the plan of the universe, alter, as man advances from +falsehood to truth: or rather, from very imperfect truth to truth less +imperfect. But yet such a one will not be disposed to look, with any +other feeling than profound <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>respect, upon the reasonings by which the +wisest men of former times ascended from their erroneous views of nature +to the truth of Natural Religion. It cannot seem strange to us that man +at any point, and perhaps at every point, of his intellectual progress, +should have an imperfect insight into the plan of the Universe; but, in +the most imperfect condition of such knowledge, he has light enough from +it, to see vestiges of the Wisdom and Benevolence of the Creating Deity; +and at the highest point of his scientific progress, he can probably +discover little more, by the light which physical science supplies. We +can hardly hope, therefore, that any new truths with regard to the +material universe, which may now be attainable, will add very much to +the evidence of creative design; but we may be confident, also, that +they will not, when rightly understood, shake or weaken such evidence. +It has indeed happened, in the history of mankind, that new views of the +constitution of the universe, brought to the light by scientific +researches, and established beyond doubt, in the conviction of impartial +persons, have disturbed the thoughts of religious men; because they did +not fall in with the view then entertained, of the mode in which God +effects his purpose in the universe. But in these cases, it soon came to +be seen, after a season of controversy, reproach, and alarm, that the +old argument for design was capable of being translated into the +language of the new theory, with no loss of force; and the minds of men +were gradually tranquillized and pacified. It may be hoped that the +world is now so much wiser than it was two or three centuries ago, that +if any modification of the current arguments for the Divine Attributes, +drawn from the aspect of the universe, become necessary, in consequence +of the rectification of received errors, it will take place without +producing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>pain, fear, or anger. To promote this purpose, we proceed to +make a few remarks.</p> + +<p>3. The proof of Design, as shown in the works of Creation, is seen most +clearly, not in mere physical arrangement, but in the structure of +organized things;—in the constitution of plants and animals. In those +parts of nature, the evidences of intelligent purpose, of wise +adaptation, of skilful selection of means to ends, of provident +contrivance, are, in many instances, of the most striking kind. Such, +for example, are the structure of the human eye, so curiously adapted +for its office of seeing; the muscles, cords, and pullies by which the +limbs of animals are moved, exceeding far the mechanical ingenuity shown +in human inventions; the provisions which exist, before the birth of +offspring, for its sustenance and well-being when it shall have been +born;—these are lucid and convincing proofs of an intelligent Creator, +to which no ordinary mind can refuse its conviction. Nor is the +evidence, which we here recognize, deprived of its force, when we see +that many parts of the structure of animals, though adapted for +particular purposes, are yet framed as a portion of a system which does +not seem, in its general form, to have any bearing on such purposes.<a name="FNanchor_1_66" id="FNanchor_1_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_66" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +The beautiful contrivances which exist in the skeleton of man, and the +contrivances, possessing the same kind of beauty, in the skeleton of a +sparrow, do not appear to any reasonable person less beautiful, because +the skeleton of a man, and of a sparrow, have an agreement, bone for +bone, for which we see no reason, and which appears to us to answer no +purpose. The way in which the human hand and arm are made capable of +their infinite <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>variety of use, by the play of the radius and ulna, the +bones of the wrist and the fingers, is not the less admirable, because +we can trace the representatives and rudiments of each of these bones, +in cases where they answer no such ends;—in the foreleg of the pig, the +ox, the horse, or the seal. The provision for feeding the young +creature, which is made, with such bounteous liberality, and such +opportune punctuality, by the breasts of the mother, has not any doubt +thrown upon its reality, by the teats of male animals and the paps of +man, which answer no such purpose. That in these cases there is +manifested a wider plan, which does not show any reference to the needs +of particular cases; as well as peculiar contrivances for the particular +cases, does not disturb our impression of design in each case. Why +should so large a portion of the animal kingdom, intended, as it seems, +for such different fields of life and modes of living;—beasts, birds, +fishes;—still have a skeleton of the same plan, and even of the same +parts, bone for bone; though many of the parts, in special cases, appear +to be altogether useless (namely, the vertebrate plan)? We cannot tell. +Our naturalists and comparative anatomists, it would seem, cannot point +out any definite end, which is answered by making so many classes of +animals on this one vertebrate plan. And since they cannot do this, and +since we cannot tell why animals are so made, we must be content to say +that we do not know; and therefore, to leave this feature in the +structure of animals out of our argument for design. Hence we do not say +that the making of beasts, birds, and fishes, on the same vertebrate +plan, proves design in the Creator, in any way in which we can +understand design. That plan is not of itself a proof of design; it is +something in addition to the proofs of design; a general law of the +animal creation, established, it may be, for some other reason. But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>this common plan being given, we can discern and admire, in every kind +of animal, the manner in which the common plan is adapted to the +particular purpose which the animal's kind of life involves.<a name="FNanchor_2_67" id="FNanchor_2_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_67" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The +general law is not all; there is also, in every instance, a special care +for the species. The general law may seem, in many cases, to remove +further from us the proof of providential care; by showing that the +elements of the benevolent contrivance are not provided in the cases +alone where they are needed, but in others also. But yet this seeming, +this obscuration of the evidence of design, by interposing the form of +general law, cannot last long. If the general law supplies the elements, +still a special adaptation is needed to make the elements answer such a +purpose; and what is this adaptation, but design? The radius and ulna, +the carpal and metacarpal bones, are all in the general type of the +vertebrate skeleton. But does this fact make it the less wonderful, that +man's arm and hand and fingers should be constructed so that he can make +and use the spade, the plow, the loom, the pen, the pencil, the chisel, +the lute, the telescope, the microscope, and all other instruments? Is +it not, rather, very wonderful that the bones which are to be found +rudimentally, in the leg-bone of a horse, or the hoof of an ox, should +be capable of such a curious and fertile development and modification? +And is not such development and modification a work, and a proof, of +design and intention in the Creator? And so in other cases. The teats of +male animals, the nipples of man, may arise from this, that the general +plan of the animal frame includes paps, as portions of it; and that the +frame is so far moulded in the embryo, before the sex of the offspring +is determined. Be it so. Yet still this provision of paps in the animal +form in general, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>has reference to offspring; and the development of +that part of the frame, when the sex is determined, is evidence of +design, as clear as it is possible to conceive in the works of nature. +The general law is moulded to the special purpose, at the proper stage; +and this play of general laws, and special contrivances, into each +other's provinces, though it may make the phenomena a little more +complex, and modify our notion as to the mode of the Creator's working, +will not, in philosophical minds, disturb the conviction that there is +design in the special adaptations: besides which, some other feature of +the operation of the Creative Mind may be suggested by the prevalence of +general laws in the Creation.</p> + +<p>4. There is, however, one caution suggested by this view. Since, +besides, and mixed with the examples of Design which the creation +offers, there are also results of General Laws, in which we cannot trace +the purpose and object of the law; we may fall into error, if we fasten +upon something which is a result of such mere general laws, and imagine +that we can discern its object and purpose. Thus, for instance, we might +possibly persuade ourselves that we had discovered the use and purpose +of the teats of male animals; or of the trace of separation into parts +which the leg-bone of a horse offers; or of the false toes of a pig: all +which are, as we have seen, the rudiments of a plan more general than is +developed in the particular case. And if, when we had made such a +fancied discovery, it were found that the uses and purposes which we had +imagined to belong to these parts or features, were not really served by +them; at first, perhaps, we might be somewhat disturbed, as having lost +one of the evidences of the design of the Creator, all which are, +precious to a reverent mind. But it is not likely that any disturbance +of a reverent mind on such grounds as this, would continue long, or go +far. We <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>should soon come to recollect, how light and precarious, +perhaps how arbitrary and ill-supported by our real knowledge, were the +grounds on which we had assigned such uses to such parts. We should turn +back from them to the more solid and certain evidences, not shaken, nor +likely to be shaken, by any change in prevalent zoological or anatomical +doctrines, which those who love to contemplate such subjects habitually +dwell upon; and, holding ourselves ready to entertain any speculations +by which the bearing of those general Laws upon Natural Religion could +be shown, in such a way as to convince our reason, we should rest in the +confident and tranquil persuasion that no success or failure in such +speculations could vitally affect our belief in a wise and benevolent +Deity:—that though additional illustrations of his attributes might be +interesting and welcome, no change of our scientific point of view could +make his being or action doubtful.</p> + +<p>5. This is, it would seem, the manner in which a reasonable and reverent +man would regard the proof of a Supreme Creator and Governor, which is +derived from Design, as seen in the organic creation; and the mode in +which such proof would be affected by changes in the knowledge which we +may acquire of the general laws by which the organic creation is +constituted and governed. And hence, if it should be found to be +established by the researches of the most comprehensive and exact +philosophy, that there are, in any province of the universe, +resemblances, gradations, general laws, indications of the mode in which +one form approaches to another, and seems to pass into and generate +another, which tend to obliterate distinctions which at first appeared +broad and conspicuous; still the argument, from the design which appears +in the parts of which we most clearly see the purpose, would not lose +its force. If, for instance, it should be made apparent, by geological +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>investigations of the extinct fossil creation, that the animal forms +which have inhabited the earth, have gradually approached to that type +in which the human form is included, passing from the rudest and most +imperfect animal organizations, mollusks, or even organic monads, to +vertebrate animals, to warm-blooded animals, to monkeys, and to men; +still, the evidences of design in the anatomy of man are not less +striking than they were, when no such gradation was thought of. And what +is more to the purpose of our argument, the evidences of the peculiar +nature and destination of man, as shown in other characters than his +anatomy,—his moral and intellectual nature, his history and +capacities,—stand where they stood before; nor is the vast chasm which +separates man, as a being with such characters as these latter, from all +other animals, at all filled up or bridged over.</p> + +<p>6. The evidence of design in the inorganic world,—in the relation of +earth, air, water, heat and light,—is, to most persons, less striking +and impressive, than it is in the organic creation. But even among these +mere physical elements of the world, when we consider them with +reference to living things, we find many arrangements which, on a +reflective view, excite our admiration, by the beneficial effect, and +seemingly beneficent purpose. Our condition is furnished with the solid +earth, on which we stand, and in which we find the materials of man's +handiworks; stone and metal, clay and sand;—with the atmosphere which +we breathe, and which is the vehicle of oral intercourse between man and +man;—with revolutions of the sun, by which are brought round the +successions of day and night, through all their varying lengths, and of +summer and winter;—with the clouds above us, which pour upon the earth +their fertilizing showers. All this furniture of the earth, so +marvellously adapting it for the abode of living creatures, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>and +especially of man, may well be regarded as a collection of provisions +for his benefit:—as <i>intended</i> to do him the good, which they do. Nor +would this impression be removed, or even weakened, if we were to +discover that some of these arrangements, instead of being produced by a +machinery confined to that single purpose, were only partial results of +a more general plan. For instance; we learn that the varying lengths of +days and nights through the year, and the varying declination of the +sun, are produced, not, as was at first supposed, by the sun moving +round the earth, in a complex diurnal and annual path, but by the earth +revolving in an annual orbit round the sun; while at the same time she +has a diurnal rotation about her own axis, which axis, by the laws of +mechanics, remains always parallel to itself. When we learn that this is +so, we see that the effect is produced by a mechanical arrangement far +more simple than any which the imagination of man had devised; but in +this case, the effect is plainly rather an increased admiration at the +simplicity of the mechanism, than a wavering belief in the reality of +the purpose. In like manner when, instead of supposing water to exist in +a continuous reservoir in a firmament above the earth, and to fall in +the earlier and in the latter rain, by some special agency for that +purpose; men learnt to see that the water in the upper regions of the +air must exist in clouds and in vapors only, and must fall in showers by +the condensing influence of cold currents of air; they needed not to +cease to admire the kindness of the Creator, in providing the rain to +water the earth, and the wind to dry it; although the mechanism by which +the effect was produced was of a larger kind than they had before +imagined. And even if this mechanism extend through the solar system: if +the arrangement by which the Earth's atmosphere is the special region in +which there are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>winds hot and cold, clouds compact or dissolving,—be +an arrangement which extends its influence to other planets, as well as +to ours;—if this mixed atmosphere be placed, not only at the meeting +point of clear aqueous vapor above, and warmer airs below, but also at +the meeting point of a hot central region surrounding the Sun, and a +cold exterior zone in which water and vapor can exist in immense +collected masses, such as are Jupiter and Saturn;—still it would not +appear, to a reasonable view, that this larger expansion of the +machinery by which the effect is produced, makes the machinery less +remarkable; or can at all tend to diminish the belief that it was +<i>intended</i> to produce the effect which it does produce. Hot and cold, +moist and dry, are constantly mixed together for the support of +vegetable and animal life; and not the less so, if we believe that, +though elements of this kind pervade the whole solar system, it is only +at the Earth that they are combined so as to foster and nourish living +things.</p> + +<p>7. But it will perhaps be said, that to suppose the whole Solar System +to be a machine merely operating for the benefit of the Earth and its +population, is to give to the Earth and its population an importance in +the scheme of creation which is quite extravagant and improbable:—it is +to make the greater orbs, Jupiter and Saturn, minister to the less; +instead of having their own purpose, and their own population, which +their size naturally leads us to expect. To this we reply, that, in the +first place, we have shown good reason for believing that the Earth is +really the largest dense solid globe which exists in the solar system, +and that the size of Jupiter and Saturn arises from their being composed +mainly of water and vapor. And with regard to the difficulty of the +greater ministering to the less;—if by <i>greater</i>, mere size and extent +be understood, it appears to be the universal law of creation, that the +greater, in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>that sense, <i>should</i> minister to the less, when the less +includes living things. Even if the planets be all inhabited, the sun, +which is greater far than all of them together, ministers light and heat +to all of them. Even on this supposition, the vast spaces by which the +planets are separated have no use, that we can discern, except to place +them at suitable distances from the sun. Even on this supposition, their +solid globes within, their atmospheres without are all merely +subservient to the benefit of a thin and scattered population on the +surface. The space occupied by men and animals on the earth's surface, +even taking into account the highest buildings and the deepest seas, is +only a few hundreds, or a thousand feet. The benefit of this minute +shell, interrupted in many places for vast distances, everywhere loosely +and sparsely filled, is ministered to by the solidity and attraction of +a mass below it 20 millions of feet deep; by the influence of an +atmosphere above it 200 thousand feet high at least, and it may be, much +more. And this being so, if we increase the depth of the centre 20 +thousand times; if we carry the extreme verge of air and vapor to thirty +times the radius of the earth's orbit from us, how does the construction +of the machine become more improbable, or the disproportion of its size +to its purpose more incongruous? Is mere size,—extent of brute matter +or blank space,—so majestic a thing? Is not infinite space large enough +to admit of machines of any size without grudging? But if we thus move +the centre of the Earth's peopled surface 20 thousand times further off, +we reach the Sun. If we carry the limit of air and vapor to the distance +of 30 times the radius of the Earth's orbit we arrive at Neptune. Are +these new numbers monstrous, while the old ones were accepted without +scruple? Is number such an alarming feature in the description of the +Universe? Does not the description of every part and every aspect of it, +present <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>us with numbers so large, that wonder and repugnance, on that +ground are long ago exhausted? Surely this is so: and if the evidence +really tend to prove to us that all the solar system ministers to the +earth's population; the mere size of the system, compared with the space +occupied by the population, will not long stand in the way of the +reception of such a doctrine.</p> + +<p>8. But the objection will perhaps be urged in another form. It will be +said that the other Planets have so many points of resemblance with the +Earth, that we must suppose their nature and purpose the same. They, +like the Earth, revolve in circles round the sun, rotate on their own +axes, have, several of them, satellites, are opaque bodies, deriving +light and probably heat from the sun. To an external spectator of the +Solar System, they would not be distinguishable from the Earth. Such a +spectator would never be tempted to guess that the Earth alone, of all +these, neither the greatest nor the least, neither the one with the most +satellites, nor the fewest, neither the innermost nor the outermost of +the planets, is the only one inhabited; or at any rate the only one +inhabited by an intelligent population. And to this we reply; that the +largest of the other planets, if we judge rightly, are <i>not</i> like the +Earth in one most essential respect, their density; and none of them, in +having a surface consisting of land and water; except perhaps Mars: that +if the supposed external spectator could see that this was so, he might +see that the earth was different from the rest; and he might be able to +see the vaporous nature of the outer planets, so that he would no more +think of peopling them, than we do, of peopling the grand Alpine ridges +and vallies which we see in the clouds of a summer-sky.</p> + +<p>9. But even if the supposed spectator attended only to the obvious and +superficial resemblances between one of the planets and another, he +might still, if he were acquainted with the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>general economy of the +Universe, have great hesitation in inferring that, if one of them were +inhabited, the others also must be inhabited. For, as we have said, in +the plan of creation, we have a profusion of examples, where similar +visible structures do not answer a similar purpose; where, so far as we +can see, the structure answers no purpose in many cases; but exists, as +we may say, for the sake of similarity: the similarity being a general +Law, the result, it would seem, of a creative energy, which is wider in +its operation than the particular purpose. Such examples are, as we have +said, the finger-bones which are packed into the hoofs of a horse, or +the paps and nipples of a male animal. Now the spectator, recollecting +such cases might say: I know that the earth is inhabited; no doubt Mars +and Jupiter are a good deal like the Earth; but are they inhabited? They +look like the terrestrial breast of Nature: but are they really nursing +breasts? Do they, like that, give food to living offspring? Or are they +mere images of such breasts? male teats, dry of all nutritive power? +sports, or rather overworks of nature; marks of a wider law than the +needs of Mother Earth require? many sketches of a design, of which only +one was to be executed? many specimens of the preparatory process of +making a Planet, of which only one was to be carried out into the making +of a World? Such questions might naturally occur to a person acquainted +with the course of creation in general; even before he remarked the +features which tend to show that Jupiter and Saturn, that Venus and +Mercury, have not been developed into peopled worlds, like our Earth.</p> + +<p>10. Perhaps it may be said, that to hold this, is to make Nature work in +vain; to waste her powers; to suppose her to produce the frame work, and +not to build; to make the skeleton, and not to clothe it with living +flesh; to delude us with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>appearances of analogy and promises of +fertility, which are fallacious. What can we reply to this?</p> + +<p>11. We reply, that to work in vain, in the sense of producing means of +life which are not used, embryos which are never vivified, germs which +are not developed; is so far from being contrary to the usual +proceedings of nature, that it is an operation which is constantly going +on, in every part of nature. Of the vegetable seeds which are produced, +what an infinitely small proportion ever grow into plants! Of animal +ova, how exceedingly few become animals, in proportion to those that do +not; and that are wasted, if this be waste! It is an old calculation, +which used to be repeated as a wonderful thing, that a single female +fish contains in its body 200 millions of ova, and thus, might, of +itself alone, replenish the seas, if all these were fostered into life. +But in truth, this, though it may excite wonder, cannot excite wonder as +anything uncommon. It is only one example of what occurs everywhere. +Every tree, every plant, produces innumerable flowers, the flowers +innumerable seeds, which drop to the earth, or are carried abroad by the +winds, and perish, without having their powers unfolded. When we see a +field of thistles shed its downy seeds upon the wind, so that they roll +away like a cloud, what a vast host of possible thistles are there! Yet +very probably none of them become actual thistles. Few are able to take +hold of the ground at all; and those that do, die for lack of congenial +nutriment, or are crushed by external causes before they are grown. The +like is the case with every tribe of plants.<a name="FNanchor_3_68" id="FNanchor_3_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_68" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> The <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>like with every +tribe of animals. The possible fertility of some kinds of insects is as +portentous as anything of this kind can be. If allowed to proceed +unchecked, if the possible life were not perpetually extinguished, the +multiplying energies perpetually frustrated, they would gain dominion +over the largest animals, and occupy the earth. And the same is the +case, in different degrees, in the larger animals. The female is stocked +with innumerable ovules, capable of becoming living things: of which +incomparably the greatest number end as they began, mere ovules;—marks +of mere possibility, of vitality frustrated. The universe is so full of +such rudiments of things, that they far outnumber the things which +outgrow their rudiments. The marks of possibility are much more numerous +than the tale of actuality. The vitality which is frustrated is far more +copious than the vitality which is consummated. So far, then, as this +analogy goes, if the earth alone, of all the planetary harvest, has been +a fertile seed of creation;—if the terrestrial embryo have alone been +evolved into life, while all the other masses have remained barren and +dead:—we have, in this, nothing which we need regard as an +unprecedented waste, an improbable prodigality, an unusual failure in +the operations of nature: but on the contrary, such a single case of +success among many of failure, is exactly the order of nature in the +production of life. It is quite agreeable to analogy, that the Solar +System, of which the <i>flowers</i> are not many, should have borne but one +<i>fertile</i> flower. One in eight, or in twice eight, reared into such +wondrous fertility as belongs to the Earth, is an abundant produce, +compared with the result in the most fertile provinces of Nature. And +even if any number <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>of the Fixed Stars were also found to be barren +flowers of the sky; objects, however beautiful, yet not sources of life +or development, we need not think the powers of creation wasted or +frustrated, thrown away or perverted. One such fertile result as the +Earth, with all its hosts of plants and animals, and especially with +Man, an intelligent being, to stand at the head of those hosts, is a +worthy and sufficient produce, so far as we can judge of the Creator's +ways by analogy, of all the Universal Scheme.</p> + +<p>12. But when we follow this analogy, so far as to speak of the mere +material mass of a planet as an <i>embryo world</i>;—a barren flower;—a +seed which has never been developed into a plant;—we are in danger of +allowing the analogy to mislead us. For a planet, as to its brute mass, +has really nothing in common with a seed or an embryo. It has no +organization, or tendency to organization; no principle of life, however +obscure. So far as we can judge, no progress of time, or operation of +mere natural influence, would clothe a brute mass with vegetables, or +stock it with animals. No species of living thing would have its place +upon the surface; by the mere order of unintelligent nature. So much is +this so, according to all that our best knowledge teaches, that those +geologists who must most have desired, for the sake of giving +completeness and consistency to their systems, to make the production of +vegetable and animal species from brute matter, a part of the order of +nature, (inasmuch as they have explained everything else by the order of +nature,) have not ventured to do so. They allow, generally at least, +each separate species to require a special act of creative power, to +bring it into being. They make the peopling of the earth, with its +successive races of inhabitants, a series of events altogether different +from the operation of physical laws in the sustentation of existing +species. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>The creation of life is, they allow, something out of the +range of the ordinary laws of nature. And therefore, when we speak of +uninhabited planets, as cases in which vital tendencies have been +defeated; in which their apparent destiny, as worlds of life, has been +frustrated; we really do injustice to our argument. The planets had no +vital tendencies: they could have had such given, only by an additional +act, or a series of additional acts, of Creative power. As mere inert +globes, they had no settled destiny to be seats of life: they could have +such a destiny, only by the appointment of Him who creates living +things, and puts them in the places which he chooses for them. If, when +a planetary mass had come into being, (in virtue of the same general +physical law, suppose, which produced the earth,) the Creator placed a +host of living things upon the earth, and none upon the other planet; +there was still no violation of analogy, no seeming change of purpose, +no unfinished plan. In the solar system, we can see what seem to be good +reasons why he did this; but if we could not see such reasons, still we +should be yet further from being able to see reasons why he necessarily +must place inhabitants upon the other planet.</p> + +<p>13. It is sometimes said, that it is agreeable to the goodness of God, +that all parts of the creation should swarm with life; that life is +enjoyment; and that the benevolence of the Supreme Being is shown in the +diffusion of such enjoyment into every quarter of the universe. To leave +a planet without inhabitants, would, it is thought, be to throw away an +opportunity of producing happiness. Now we shall not here dwell upon the +consideration, that the enjoyment thus spoken of, is, in a great degree, +the enjoyment which the mere life of the lower tribes of animals +implies;—the enjoyment of madrepores and oysters, cuttle-fish and +sharks, tortoises and serpents; but we reply more broadly, that it is +not the rule followed by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>Creator, to fill all places with living +things. To say nothing of the vast intervals between planet and planet, +which, it is presumed, no one supposes to be occupied by living things; +how large a portion of the surface of the earth is uninhabited, or +inhabited only in the scantiest manner. Vast desert tracts exist in +Africa and in Asia, where the barren sand nourishes neither animal nor +vegetable life. The highest regions of mountain-ranges, clothed with +perpetual snow, and with far-reaching sheets of glacier ice, are +untenanted, except by the chamois at their outskirts. There are many +uninhabited islands; and were formerly many more. The ocean, covering +nearly three-fourths of the globe, is no seat of habitation for land +animals or for man; and though it has a large population of the fishy +tribes, is probably peopled in smaller numbers than if it were land, as +well as by inferior orders. We see, in the Earth then, which is the only +seat of life of which we really know anything, nothing to support the +belief that every field in the material universe is tenanted by living +inhabitants.</p> + +<p>14. That vegetables and animals, being once placed upon the earth, have +multiplied or are multiplying, so as to occupy every part of the land +and water which is suited for their habitation, we can see much reason +to believe. Philosophical natural-historians have been generally led to +the conviction that each species has had an original centre of +dispersion, where it was first native, and that from this centre it has +been diffused in all directions, as far as the circumstances of climate +and soil were favorable to its production. But we can see also much +reason to believe that this general diffusion of vegetable and animal +life from centres, is a part of the order of nature which may often be +made to give way to other and higher purposes;—to the diffusion, over +the whole surface of the earth, of a race of intelligent, moral agents. +This process may often interfere <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>with the general law of diffusion: as +for instance, when man exterminates noxious animals. And whatever may be +the laws which tend to replenish the earth, on which such centres of the +diffusion of life exist for animals and plants; according to all +analogy, these laws can have no force on any other planet, till such +origins and centres of life are established on their surfaces. And even +if any of the species which have ever tenanted the earth were so +established on any other planet, we have the strongest reason to believe +that they could not survive to a second generation.</p> + +<p>15. Perhaps it may be said that we unjustifiably limit the power and +skill of the Supreme Creator, if we deny that he could frame creatures +fitted to live on any of the other planets, as well as in the +Earth:—that the wonderful variety, and unexpected resource, of the ways +in which animals are adapted for all kinds of climates, habitations, and +conditions, upon the earth, may give us confidence that, under +conditions still more extended, in habitations still further removed, in +climates going beyond the terrestrial extremes, still the same wisdom +and skill may well be supposed to have devised possible modes of animal +life.</p> + +<p>16. To this we reply, that we are so far from saying that the Creator +could not place inhabitants in the other planets, that we have attempted +to show what kind of inhabitants would be most likely to be placed +there, by considering the way in which animals are accommodated to +special conditions in their habitation. In judging of such modes of +accommodating animals to an abode on other planets, as well as the +earth, we have reasoned from what we know, of the mode in which animals +are accommodated to their different habitations on the earth. We believe +this to be the only safe and philosophical way of treating the question. +If we are to reason <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>at all about the possibility of animal life, we +must suppose that heat and light, gravity and buoyancy, materials and +affinities, air and moisture, produce the same effect, require the same +adaptations, in Jupiter or in Venus, as they do on the Earth. If we do +not suppose this, we run into the error which so long prevented many +from accepting the Newtonian system:—the error of thinking that matter +in the heavens is governed by quite different laws from matter on the +earth. We must adopt that belief, if we hold that animals may live under +relations of heat and moisture, materials and affinities, in Jupiter or +Venus, under which they could not live on our planet. And that belief, +as we have said, appears to us contrary to all the teaching which the +history of science offers us.</p> + +<p>17. And not only is it contrary to the teaching of the history of +science, to suppose the laws, which connect elemental and organic +nature, to be different in the other planets from what they are on ours; +but moreover the supposition would not at all answer the purpose, of +making it probable that the planets are inhabited. For if we begin to +imagine new and unknown laws of nature for those abodes, what is there +to limit or determine our assumptions in any degree? What extravagant +mixtures of the attributes and properties of mind and matter may we not +then accept as probable truths? We know how difficult the poets have +found it to describe, with any degree of consistency, the actions and +events of a world of angels, or of evil spirits, souls or shades, +embodied in forms so as to admit of description, and yet not subject to +the laws of human bodies. Virgil, Tasso, Milton, Klopstock, and many +others, have struggled with this difficulty:—no one of them, it will be +probably agreed, with any great success; at least, regarding his +representation as a hypothesis of a possible form of life, different +from all the forms which we know. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>Yet if we are to reject the laws +which govern the known forms of life, in order that we may be able to +maintain the possibility of some unknown form in a different planet, we +must accept some of these hypotheses, or find a better. We must suppose +that weight and cohesion, wounds and mutilations, wings and plumage, +would have, either the effect which the poets represent them as having, +or some different effect: and in either case it will be impossible to +give any sufficient reason why we should confine the population to the +surface of a planet. If gravity have not, upon any set of beings, the +effect which it has upon us, such beings may live upon the surface of +Saturn, though it be mere vapor: but then, on that supposition, they may +equally well live in the vast space between Saturn and Jupiter, without +needing any planet for their mansion. If we are ready to suppose that +there are, in the solar system, conscious beings, not subject to the +ordinary laws of life, we may go on to imagine creatures constituted of +vaporous elements, floating in the fiery haze of a nebula, or close to +the body of a sun; and cloudy forms which soar as vapors in the region +of vapor. But such imaginations, besides being rather fitted for the +employment of poets than of philosophers, will not, as we have said, +find a population for the planets; since such forms may just as easily +be conceived swimming round the sun in empty space, or darting from star +to star, as confining themselves to the neighborhood of any of the solid +globes which revolve about the central sun.</p> + +<p>18. We should not, then add anything to the probability of inhabitants +on the other planets of our system, even if we were arbitrarily to +assume unlimited changes in the laws of nature, when we pass from our +region to theirs. But probably, all readers will be of opinion that such +assumptions are contrary to the whole scheme and spirit of such +speculations <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>as we are here presuming:—that if we speculate on such +subjects at all, it must be done by supposing that the same laws of +nature operate in the same manner, in planetary, as in terrestrial +spaces;—and that as we suppose, and prove, gravity and attraction, +inertia and momentum, to follow the same rules, and produce the same +effects, on brute matter there, which they do here; so, both these +forces, and others, as light and heat, moisture and air, if, in the +planets, they go beyond the extremes which limit them here, yet must +imply, in any organized beings which exist in the planets, changes, +though greater in amount, of the same kind as those which occur in +approaching the terrestrial extremes of those elementary agents. And +what kind of a population that would lead us to suppose in Jupiter or +Saturn, Mars or Venus, the reader has already seen our attempt to +determine; and may thence judge whether, when we go so far beyond the +terrestrial extremes of heat and cold, light and dimness, vapor and +water, air and airlessness, any population at all is probable.</p> + +<p>19. Perhaps some persons, even if they cannot resist the force of these +reasons, may still yield to them with regret; and may feel as if, having +hitherto believed that the planets were inhabited, and having now to +give up that belief, their view of the solar system, as one of the +provinces of God's creation, were made narrower and poorer than it was +before. And this feeling may be still further increased, if they are led +to believe also that many of the fixed stars are not the centres of +inhabited systems; or that very few, or none are. It may seem to them, +as if, by such a change of belief, the field of God's greatness, +benevolence, and government, were narrowed and impoverished, to an +extent painful and shocking;—as if, instead of being the Maker and +Governor of innumerable worlds, of the most varied constitution, we were +called upon to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>regard him as merely the Master of the single world in +which we live:—as if, instead of being the object of reverence and +adoration to the intelligent population of these thousand spheres, he +was recognized and worshipped on one only, and on that, how scantily and +imperfectly!</p> + +<p>20. It is not to be denied that there may be such a regret and +disturbance naturally felt at having to give up our belief that the +planets and the stars probably contain servants and worshippers of God. +It must always be a matter of pain and trouble, to be urged with +tenderness, and to be performed in time, to untwine our reverential +religious sentiments from erroneous views of the constitution of the +universe with which they have been involved. But the change once made, +it is found that religion is uninjured, and reverence undiminished. And +therefore we trust that the reader will receive with candor and patience +the argument which we have to offer with reference to this view, or +rather, this sentiment.</p> + +<p>21. We remark, in the first place, that however repugnant it may be to +us to believe a state of any part of the universe in which there are not +creatures who can know, obey and worship God; we are compelled, by +geological evidence, to admit that such a state of things has existed +upon the earth, during a far longer period than the whole duration of +man's race. If we suppose that the human race, if not by their actual +knowledge, obedience, and worship of God, yet at least by their +faculties for knowing, obeying, and worshipping, are a sufficient reason +why there should be such a province in God's empire; still in fact, this +race has existed only for a few thousand years, out of the, perhaps, +millions of years of the earth's existence; and during all the previous +period, the earth, if tenanted, was tenanted by brute creatures, fishes +and lizards, beasts and birds, of which none had any faculty, +intellectual, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>moral, or religious. By the same analogy, therefore, on +which we have already insisted, we may argue that there is reason to +believe, that if other planets, and other stars, are the seats of +habitation, it is rather of such habitation as has prevailed upon the +earth during the millions, than during the six thousand years; and that +if we have, in consequence of physical reasons, to give up the belief of +a population in the other planets, or in the stars; we are giving up, +not anything with which we might dwell with religious pleasure—hosts of +fellow-servants and fellow-worshippers of the Divine Author of all:—but +the mere brute tribes, of the land and of the water, things that creep +and crawl, prowl and spring;—none that can lift its visage to the sky, +with a feeling that it is looking for its Maker and Master. There have +not existed upon the Earth, during the immense ages of its præhuman +existence, beings who could recognize and think of the Creator of the +world: and if astronomy introduces us, as geology has done, to a new +order of material structures, thus barren of an intelligent and +religious population, we must learn to accept the prospect, in the one +case, as in the other. Nor need we fear that on a further contemplation +of the universe, we shall find every part of it ministering, though +perhaps not in the way our first thoughts had guessed, to sentiments of +reverence and adoration towards the Maker of the universe.</p> + +<p>22. The truth is, as the slightest recollection of the course of opinion +about the stars may satisfy us, that men have had repeatedly to give up +the notions which they had adopted, of the manner in which the material +heavens, the stars and the skies, are to minister to man's feeling of +reverence for the Creator. It was long ago said, that the heavens +declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork: that +day and night, sun and moon, clouds and stars, unite in impressing upon +us this sentiment. And this language still <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>finds a sympathetic echo, in +the breasts of all religious persons. Nor will it ever cease to do so, +however our opinions of the structure and nature of the heavenly bodies +may alter. When the new aspects of things become familiar, they will +show us the handiwork of God, and declare his glory, as plainly as the +old ones. But in the progress of opinions, man has often had to resign +what seemed to him, at the time, visions so beautiful, sublime, and +glorious, that they could not be dismissed without regret. The Universal +Lord was at one time conceived as directing the motions of all the +spheres by means of Ruling Angels, appointed to preside over each. The +prevalence of proportion and number, in the dimensions of these spheres, +was assumed to point to the existence of harmonious sounds, accompanying +their movements, though unheard by man; as proportion and number had +been found to be the accompaniments and conditions of harmony upon +earth. The time came, when these opinions were no longer consistent with +man's knowledge of the heavenly motions, and of the wide-spreading +causes by which they are produced. Then "Ruling Angels from their +spheres were hurled," as a matter of belief; though still the poets +loved to refer to imagery in which so many lofty and reverent thoughts +had so long been clothed. The aspect of the stars was most naturally +turned to a lesson of cheerful and thoughtful piety, by the adoption of +such a view of their nature and office; and thus, the midnight +contemplator of an Italian sky teaches his companion concerning the +starry host;</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sit, Jessica; look how the floor of heav'n<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is thick inlaid with patterns of bright gold.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There's not the meanest orb, which thou behold'st,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But in his motion like an angel sings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Such harmony is in immortal souls.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p><p>meaning, apparently, the harmony between the immortal spirits that +govern each star, and the cherubims that sing before the throne of God. +But however beautiful and sublime may be this representation, the +philosopher has had to abandon it in its literal sense. He may have +adopted, instead, the opinion that each of the stars is the seat, or the +centre of a group of seats, of choirs of worshippers; but this again, is +still to suppose the nature of those orbs to be entirely different from +that of this earth; though in many respects, we know that they are +governed by the same laws. And if he will be content to know no more +than he has the means of knowing, or even to know only according to his +best means of knowing, he must be prepared, if the force of proof so +requires, to give up this belief also; at least for the present.</p> + +<p>23. Indeed, those who have not been content with this, and have sought +to combine with the visible splendor of the skies, some scheme, founded +upon astronomical views, which shall people them with intelligent beings +and worshippers, have drawn upon their fancy quite as much as Lorenzo in +his lesson to Jessica; or rather, they have done what he and those from +whom his love was derived, had done before. They have taken the truths +which astronomers have discovered and taught, and made the objects and +regions so revealed, the scenes and occasions of such sentiments of +piety as they themselves have, or feel that they ought to have. Even in +Shakspeare, the stars are already <i>orbs</i>, each orb has his <i>motion</i>, and +in his motion produces the music of the spheres. More recent preachers, +following sounder views of the nature of these orbs and motions, have +been equally poetical when they come to their religious reflection. When +the poet of the <i>Night Thoughts</i> says,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Each of these stars is a religious house;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I saw their altars smoke, their incense rise,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And heard hosannas ring through every sphere."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p><p>he is no less imaginative than the poet of that <i>Midsummer Night's +Dream</i>, which we have in the <i>Merchant of Venice</i>. And we are compelled, +by all the evidence which we can discern, to say the same of the +preacher who speaks, from the pulpit, of these orbs of worlds, and tells +us of the stars which "give animation to other systems<a name="FNanchor_4_69" id="FNanchor_4_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_69" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>;" when he +says<a name="FNanchor_5_70" id="FNanchor_5_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_70" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> "worlds roll in these distant regions; and these worlds must be +the centres of life and intelligence;" when he speaks of the earth<a name="FNanchor_6_71" id="FNanchor_6_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_71" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> as +"the humblest of the provinces of God's empire." But then we must +recollect that these thoughts still prove the religious nature of man; +they show how he is impelled to endeavor to elevate his mind to God by +every part of the universe; and it is not too much to say, that through +the faculties of man, thus regarding the starry heavens, every star does +really testify to the greatness of God, and minister to His worship.</p> + +<p>24. We may trust that this mere material magnificence does not require +inhabitants, to make it lift man's heart towards the Universal Creator, +and to make him accept it as a sublime evidence of His greatness. The +grandest objects in nature are blank and void of life;—the +mountain-peaks that stand, ridge beyond ridge, serene in the region of +perpetual snow;—the summer-clouds, images of such mountain tracts, even +upon a grander scale, and tinted with more gorgeous colors;—the +thunder-cloud with its dazzling bolt;—the stormy ocean with its +mountainous waves;—the Aurora Borealis, with its mysterious pillars of +fire;—all these are sublime; all these elevate the soul, and make it +acknowledge a mighty Worker in the elements, in spite of any teaching of +a material philosophy. And if we have to regard the planets as merely +parts of the same great spectacle of nature, we shall not the less +regard them with an admiration which ministers to pious awe. Even merely +as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>a spectacle, Saturn made visible in his real shape, only by a vast +exertion of human skill, yet shining like a star, in form so curiously +complex, symmetrical and seemingly artificial, will never cease to be an +object of the ardent and contemplative gaze of all who catch a sight of +him. And however much the philosopher may teach that he is merely a mass +of water and vapor, ice and snow, he must be far more interesting to the +eye than the Alps, or the clouds that crown them, or the ocean with its +icebergs; where the same elements occur in forms comparatively shapeless +and lawless, irregular and chaotic.</p> + +<p>25. But perhaps there is in the minds of many persons, a sentiment +connected with this regular and symmetrical form of the heavenly bodies; +that being thus beautifully formed and finished they must have been the +objects of especial care to the Creator. These regular globes, these +nearly circular orbits, these families of satellites, they too so +regular in their movements; this ring of Saturn; all the adjustments by +which the planetary motions are secured from going wrong, as the +profoundest researches into the mechanics of the universe show;—all +these things seem to indicate a peculiar attention bestowed by the Maker +on each part of the machine. So much of law and order, of symmetry and +beauty in every part, implies, it may be thought, that every part has +been framed with a view to some use;—that its symmetry and its beauty +are the marks of some noble purpose.</p> + +<p>26. To reply to this argument, so far as it is requisite for us to do +so, we must recur to what we have already said; that though we see in +many parts of the universe, inorganic as well as organic, marks which we +cannot mistake, of design and purpose; yet that this design and purpose +are often effected by laws which are of a much wider sweep than the +design, so far as we can trace its bearing. These laws, besides +answering the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>purpose, produce many other effects, in which we can see +no purpose. We have now to observe further that these laws, thus ranging +widely through the universe, and working everywhere, as if the Creator +delighted in the generality of the law, independently of its special +application, do often produce innumerable results of beauty and +symmetry, as if the Creator delighted in beauty and symmetry, +independently of the purpose answered.</p> + +<p>27. Thus, to exemplify this reflection: the powers of aggregation and +cohesion, which hold together the parts of solid bodies, as metals and +stones, salts and ice,—which solidify matter, in short,—we can easily +see, to be necessary, in order to the formation and preservation of +solid terrestrial bodies. They are requisite, in order that man may have +the firm earth to stand upon, and firm materials to use. But let us +observe, what a wonderful and beautiful variety of phenomena grows out +of this law, with no apparent bearing upon that which seems to us its +main purpose. The power of aggregation of solid bodies is, in fact, the +force of crystallization. It binds together the particles of bodies by +molecular forces, which not only hold the particles together, but are +exerted in special directions, which form triangles, squares, hexagons, +and the like. And hence we have all the variety of crystalline forms +which sparkle in gems, ores, earths, pyrites, blendes; and which, when +examined by the crystallographers, are found to be an inexhaustible +field of the play of symmetrical complexity. The diamond, the emerald, +the topaz, have got each its peculiar kind of symmetry. Gold and other +metals have, for the basis of their forms, the cube, but run from this +into a vastly greater variety of regular solids than ever geometer +dreamt of. Some single species of minerals, as calc-spar, present +hundreds of forms, all rigorously regular, and have been alone the +subject <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>of volumes. Ice crystallizes by the same laws as other solid +bodies; and our Arctic voyagers have sometimes relieved the weariness of +their sojourn in those regions, by collecting some of the innumerable +forms, resembling an endless collection of hexagonal flowers, sporting +into different shapes, which are assumed by flakes of snow<a name="FNanchor_7_72" id="FNanchor_7_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_72" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>. In these +and many other ways, the power of crystallization produces an +inexhaustible supply of examples of symmetrical beauty. And what are we +to conceive to be the object and purpose of this? As we have said, that +part of the purpose which is intelligible to us is, that we have here a +force holding together the particles of bodies, so as to make them +solid. But all these pretty shapes add nothing to this intelligible use. +Why then are they there? They are there, it would seem, for their own +sake;—because they are pretty;—symmetry and beauty are there on their +own account; or because they are universal adjuncts of the general laws +by which the creator works. Or rather we may say, combining different +branches of our knowledge, that crystallization is the mark and +accompaniment of chemical composition: and that as chemical composition +takes place according to definite numbers, so crystalline aggregation +takes place according to definite forms. The symmetrical relations of +space in crystals correspond to the simple relations of number in +synthesis; and thus, because there is rule, there is regularity, and +regularity assumes the form of beauty.</p> + +<p>28. This, which thus shows itself throughout the mineral kingdom, or, +speaking more widely and truly, throughout the whole range of chemical +composition, is still more manifest in the vegetable domain. All the +vast array of flowers, so infinitely <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>various, and so beautiful in their +variety, are the results of a few general laws; and show, in the degree +of their symmetry, the alternate operation of one law and another. The +rose, the lily, the cowslip, the violet, differ in something of the same +way, in which the crystalline forms of the several gems differ. Their +parts are arranged in fives or in threes, in pentagons or in hexagons, +and in these regular forms, one part or another is expanded or +contracted, rendered conspicuous by color or by shape, so as to produce +all the multiplicity of beauty which the florist admires. Or rather, in +the eye of the philosophical botanist, the whole of the structure of +plants, with all their array of stems and leaves, blossoms and fruits, +is but the manifestation of one Law; and all these members of the +vegetable form, are, in their natures, the same, developed more or less +in this way or in that. The daisy consists of a close cluster of flowers +of which each has, in its form, the rudiments of the valerian. The +peablossom is a rose, with some of its petals expanded into +butterfly-like wings. Even without changing the species, this general +law leads to endless changes. The garden-rose is the common hedge-rose +with innumerable filaments changed into glowing petals. By the addition +of whorl to whorl, of vegetable coronet over coronet, green and colored, +broad and narrow, filmy and rigid, every plant is generated, and the +glory of the field and of the garden, of the jungle and of the forest, +is brought forth in all its magnificence. Here, then, we have an +immeasurable wealth of beauty and regularity, brought to view by the +operation of a single law. And to what use? What purpose do these +beauties answer? What is the object for which the lilies of the field +are clothed so gaily and gorgeously? Some plants, indeed, are +subservient to the use of animals and of man: but how small is the +number in which we can trace this, as an intelligent <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>purpose of their +existence! And does it not, in fact, better express the impression which +the survey of this province of nature suggests to us, to say, that they +grow because the Creator willed that they should grow? Their vegetable +life was an object of His care and contrivance, as well as animal and +human life. And they are beautiful, also because He willed that they +should be so:—because He delights in producing beauty;—and, as we have +further tried to make it appear, because He acts by general law, and law +produces beauty. Is not such a tendency here apparent, as a part of the +general scheme of Creation?</p> + +<p>29. We have already attempted to show, that in the structure of animals, +especially that large class best known to us, vertebrate animals, there +is also a general plan which, so far as we can see, goes beyond the +circuit of the special adaptation of each animal to its mode of living: +and is a rule of creative action, in addition to the rule that the parts +shall be subservient to an intelligible purpose of animal life. We have +noticed several phenomena in the animal kingdom, where parts and +features appear, rudimentary and inert, discharging no office in their +economy, and speaking to us, not of purpose, but of law:—consistent +with an end which is visible, but seemingly the results of a rule whose +end is in itself.</p> + +<p>30. And do we not, in innumerable cases, see beauties of color and form, +texture and lustre, which suggests to us irresistibly the belief that +beauty and regular form are rules of the Creative agency, even when they +seem to us, looking at the creation for uses only, idle and wanton +expenditure of beauty and regularity. To what purpose are the host of +splendid circles which decorate the tail of the peacock, more beautiful, +each of them, than Saturn with his rings? To what purpose the exquisite +textures of microscopic objects, more curiously <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>regular than anything +which the telescope discloses? To what purpose the gorgeous colors of +tropical birds and insects, that live and die where human eye never +approaches to admire them? To what purpose the thousands of species of +butterflies with the gay and varied embroidery of their microscopic +plumage, of which one in millions, if seen at all, only draws the +admiration of the wandering schoolboy? To what purpose the delicate and +brilliant markings of shells, which live, generation after generation, +in the sunless and sightless depths of the ocean? Do not all these +examples, to which we might add countless others, (for the world, so far +as human eye has scanned it, is full of them,) prove that beauty and +regularity are universal features of the work of Creation, in all its +parts, small and great: and that we judge in a way contrary to a vast +range of analogy, which runs through the whole of the Universe, when we +infer that, because the objects which are presented to our contemplation +are beautiful in aspect and regular in form, they must, in each case, be +means for some special end, of those which we commonly fix upon, as the +main ends of the Creation, the support and advantage of animals or of +man?</p> + +<p>31. If this be so, then the beautiful and regular objects which the +telescope reveals to us; Jupiter and his Moons, Saturn and his Rings, +the most regular of the Double Stars, Clusters and Nebulæ; cannot +reasonably be inferred, because they are beautiful and regular, to be +also fields of life, or scenes of thought. They may be, as to the poet's +eye they often appear, the gems of the robe of Night, the flowers of the +celestial fields. Like gems and like flowers, they are beautiful and +regular, because they are brought into being by vast and general laws. +These laws, although, in the mind of the Creator, they have their +sufficient reason, as far as they extend, may <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>have, in no other region +than that which we inhabit, the reason which we seek to discover +everywhere, the sustentation of a life like ours. That we should connect +with the existence of such laws, the existence of Mind like our own +mind, is most natural; and, as we might easily show, is justifiable, +reasonable, even necessary. But that we should suppose the result of +such laws are so connected with Mind, that wherever the laws gather +matter into globes, and whirl it round the central body, <i>there</i> is also +a local seat of minds like ours; is an assumption altogether +unwarranted; and is, without strong evidence, of which we have as yet no +particle, quite visionary.</p> + +<p>32. But finally, it may be said that by this our view of the universe, +we diminish the greatness of the work of creation, and the majesty of +the Creator. Such a view appears to represent the other planets as mere +fragments, which have flown off in the fabrication of this our earth, +and of the mechanism by which it answers its purpose. Instead of a vast +array of completed worlds, we have one world, surrounded by abortive +worlds and inert masses. Instead of perfection everywhere, we have +imperfection everywhere, except at one spot; if even there the +workmanship be perfect.</p> + +<p>33. To this, the reply is contained in what we have already said: but we +may add, that it cannot be wise or right, to prop up our notions of +God's greatness, by physical doctrines which will not bear discussion. +God's greatness has no need of man's inventions for its support. The +very conviction that the Creation must be such as to confirm our belief +in the greatness of God, shows that such a belief is more deeply seated +than any special views of the structure of the universe, and will +triumphantly survive the removal of error in such views. We may add, +that till within a few thousand years, this earth, compared with what it +now is, having upon it no intelligent beings, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>might be regarded as an +abortive world; that all the parts of the solar system which we can best +scrutinize, the moon, and meteoric stones, are inert masses; and +further, that there is everywhere the perfection which results from the +operation of law, and that <i>that</i> seems to be the perfection with which +the Creator is contented.</p> + +<p>34. And perhaps, when the view of the universe which we here present has +become familiar, we may be led to think that the aspect which it gives to +the mode of working of the Creator, is sufficiently grand and majestic. +Instead of manufacturing a multitude of worlds on patterns more or less +similar, He has been employed in one great work, which we cannot call +imperfect, since it includes and suggests all that we can conceive of +perfection. It may be that all the other bodies, which we can discover +in the universe, show the greatness of this work, and are rolled into +forms of symmetry and order, into masses of light and splendor, by the +vast whirl which the original creative energy imparted to the luminous +element. The planets and the stars are the lumps which have flown from +the potter's wheel of the Great Worker;—the shred-coils which, in the +working, sprang from His mighty lathe:—the sparks which darted from His +awful anvil when the solar system lay incandescent thereon;—the curls +of vapor which rose from the great cauldron of creation when its +elements were separated. If even these superfluous portions of the +material are marked with universal traces of regularity and order, this +shows that universal rules are his implements, and that Order is the +first and universal Law of the heavenly work.</p> + +<p>35. And, that we may see the full dignity of this work, we must always +recollect that Man is a part of it, and the crowning part. The +workmanship which is employed on mere matter is, after all, of small +account, in the eyes of intellectual <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>and moral creatures, when compared +with the creation and government of intellectual and moral creatures. +The majesty of God does not reside in planets and stars, in orbs and +systems; which are, after all, only stone and vapor, materials and +means. If, as we believe, God has not only made the material world, but +has made and governs man, we need not regret to have to depress any +portion of the material world below the place which we had previously +assigned to it; for, when all is done, the material world <i>must</i> be put +in an inferior place, compared with the world of mind. If there be a +World of Mind, <i>that</i>, according to all that we can conceive, must have +been better worth creating, must be more worthy to exist, as an object +of care in the eyes of the Creator, than thousands and millions of stars +and planets, even if they were occupied by a myriad times as many +species of brute animals as have lived upon the earth since its +vivification. In saying this, we are only echoing the common voice of +mankind, uttered, as so often it is, by the tongues of poets. One such +speaks thus of stellar systems:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Behold this midnight splendor, worlds on worlds;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ten thousand add and twice ten thousand more,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then weigh the whole: one soul outweighs them all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And calls the seeming vast magnificence<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of unintelligent creation, poor.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And as this is true of intelligence, with the suggestion which that +faculty so naturally offers, of the inextinguishable nature of mind, so +is it true of the moral nature of man. No accumulation of material +grandeur, even if it fill the universe, has any dignity in our eyes, +compared with moral grandeur: as poetry has also expressed:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Look then abroad through nature, to the range<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres,<br /></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span><span class="i0">Wheeling unshaken through the void immense,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And speak, O man! Can this capacious scene<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With half that kindling majesty exalt<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Amid the band of patriots; and his arm<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aloft extending, like eternal Jove<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When guilt calls down the thunder, call'd aloud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bade the Father of his Country, Hail!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For lo! the tyrant prostrate in the dust,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Rome again is free.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This action being taken, as it is here meant to be conceived, for one of +the highest examples of moral greatness. And however we may judge of +this action, we must allow that the characters which are implied in this +praise of it,—the loftiest kinds of moral excellence,—are more +suitable to the highest idea of the object and purpose of a Deity +creating worlds, than would be any mere material structure of planets +and suns, whether kept in their places by adamantine spheres, wheeling +unshaken through the void immense, or themselves wheeling unshaken by +the power of a universal law. The thoughts of Rights and Obligations, +Duty and Virtue, of Law and Liberty, of Country and Constitution, of the +Glory of our Ancestors, the Elevation of our Fellow-Citizens, the +Freedom and Happiness and Dignity of Posterity,—are thoughts which +belong to a world, a race, a body of beings, of which any one +individual, with the capacities which such thoughts imply, is more +worthy of account, than millions of millions of mollusks and belemnites, +lizards and fishes, sloths and pachyderms, diffused through myriads of +worlds.</p> + +<p>36. We might illustrate this argument further, by taking actions of the +moral character of which there will be less doubt. If we look at the +great acts which render Greece <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>illustrious and interesting in our +eyes,—such as the death of Socrates, for instance, the triumph of a +reverence for Law and a love of country;—can we think it any real +diminution of the glory of the universe, if we are reduced to the +necessity of rejecting the belief in a multitude of worlds, which +though, it may be, peopled with lower animals, contain none endowed with +any higher principle than hunger and thirst?</p> + +<p>37. That the human race possesses a worth in the eyes of Reason beyond +that which any material structure, or any brute population can possess, +might be maintained on still higher and stronger grounds; namely, on +religious grounds: but we do not intend here to dwell on that part of +the subject. If man be, not merely (and he alone of all animals) capable +of Virtue and Duty, of Universal Love and Self-Devotion, but be also +immortal; if his being be of infinite duration, his soul created never +to die; then, indeed, we may well say that one soul outweighs the whole +unintelligent creation. And if the Earth have been the scene of an +action of Love and Self-Devotion for the incalculable benefit of the +whole human race, in comparison with which the death of Socrates fades +into a mere act of cheerful resignation to the common lot of humanity; +and if this action, and its consequences to the whole race of man, in +his temporal and eternal destiny, and in his history on earth before and +after it, were the main object for which man was created, the cardinal +point round which the capacities and the fortunes of the race were to +turn; then indeed we see that the Earth has a pre-eminence in the scheme +of creation, which may well reconcile us to regard all the material +splendor which surrounds it, all the array of mere visible luminaries +and masses which accompany it, as no unfitting appendages to such a +drama. The elevation of millions of intellectual, moral, religious, +spiritual creatures, to a destiny <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>so prepared, consummated, and +developed, is no unworthy occupation of all the capacities of space, +time, and matter. And, so far as any one has yet shown, to regard this +great scheme as other than the central point of the divine plan; to +consider it as one part among other parts, similar, co-ordinate, or +superior; involves those who so speculate, in difficulties, even with +regard to the plan itself, which they strive in vain to reconcile; while +the assumption of the subjects of such a plan, in other regions of the +universe, is at variance with all which we, looking at the analogies of +space and time, of earth and stars, of life in brutes and in man, have +found reason to deem in any degree probable.</p> + +<p>38. And thus that conjecture of the Plurality of Worlds, to which a wide +and careful examination of the physical constitution of the Universe +supplied no confirmation, derives also little support from a +contemplation of the Design which the Creator may be supposed to have +had in the work of the Creation; when such Design is regarded in a +comprehensive manner, and in all its bearings. Such a survey seems to +speak rather in favor of the Unity of the World, than of a Plurality of +Worlds. A further consideration of the intellectual, moral, and +religious nature of man may still further illustrate this view; and with +that object, we shall make a few additional remarks.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_66" id="Footnote_1_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_66"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The greatest anatomists, and especially Mr. Owen, have +recently expressed their conviction, that researches on the structure of +animals must be guided by the principle of <i>unity of composition</i> as +well as the principle of <i>final causes</i>. See Owen <i>On the Nature of +Limbs</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_67" id="Footnote_2_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_67"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This has been termed by physiologists <i>The Law of the +Development from the General to the Special</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_68" id="Footnote_3_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_68"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Every reader of physiological works knows how easy it would +be to multiply examples of this kind to any extent. Thus it is held by +physiologists, that the sporules of fungi are universally diffused +through the atmosphere, ready to vegetate whenever an opportunity +presents itself: and that a single individual produces not less than ten +millions of germs. It is held also that innumerable seeds of plants +still capable of vegetation, lie in strata far below the earth's +surface, finding the occasion to vegetate only by the rarest and most +exceptional occurrences.—Carpenter, <i>Manual of Physiology</i>. 1851, Art. +44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_69" id="Footnote_4_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_69"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Chalmers, p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_70" id="Footnote_5_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_70"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Ibid. p. 21</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_71" id="Footnote_6_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_71"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Ibid. p. 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_72" id="Footnote_7_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_72"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Dr. Scoresby, in his <i>Account of the Arctic Regions</i> (1820) +Vol. II. has given figures of 96 such forms, selected for their eminent +regularity from many more.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE UNITY OF THE WORLD.</p> + + +<p>1. The two doctrines which we have here to weigh against each other are +the Plurality of Worlds, and the Unity of the World. In so saying, we +include in our present view, a necessary part of the conception of a +<i>World</i>, a collection of intelligent creatures: for even if the +suppositions to which we have been led, respecting the kind of +unintelligent living things which may inhabit other parts of the +Universe, be conceived to be probable; such a belief will have little +interest for most persons, compared with the belief of other worlds, +where reside intelligence, perception of truth, recognition of moral +Law, and reverence for a Divine Creator and Governor. In looking +outwards at the Universe, there are certain aspects which suggest to +man, at first sight, a conjecture that there may be other bodies like +the Earth, tenanted by other creatures like man. This conjecture, +however, receives no confirmation from a closer inquiry, with increased +means of observation. Let us now look inwards, at the constitution of +man; and consider some characters of his nature, which seem to remove or +lessen the difficulties which we may at first feel, in regarding the +Earth as, in a unique and special manner, the field of God's Providence +and Government.</p> + +<p>2. In the first place, the Earth, as the abode of man, the intellectual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>creature, contains a being, whose mind is, in some measure, of the same +nature as the Divine Mind of the Creator. The Laws which man discovers +in the Creation must be Laws known to God. The truths,—for instance the +truths of geometry,—which man sees to be true, God also must see to be +true. That there were, from the beginning, in the Creative Mind, +Creative Thoughts, is a doctrine involved in every intelligent view of +Creation.</p> + +<p>3. This doctrine was presented by the ancients in various forms; and the +most recent scientific discoveries have supplied new illustrations of +it. The mode in which Plato expressed the doctrine which we are here +urging was, that there were in the Divine Mind, before or during the +work of creation, certain archetypal Ideas, certain exemplars or +patterns of the world and its parts, according to which the work was +performed: so that these Ideas or Exemplars existed in the objects +around us being in so many cases discernible by man, and being the +proper objects of human reason. If a mere metaphysician were to attempt +to revive this mode of expressing the doctrine, probably his +speculations would be disregarded, or treated as a pedantic +resuscitation of obsolete Platonic dreams. But the adoption of such +language must needs be received in a very different manner, when it +proceeds from a great discoverer in the field of natural knowledge: when +it is, as it were, forced upon <i>him</i>, as the obvious and appropriate +expression of the result of the most profound and comprehensive +researches into the frame of the whole animal creation. The recent works +of Mr. Owen, and especially one work, <i>On the Nature of Limbs</i>, are full +of the most energetic and striking passages, inculcating the doctrine +which we have been endeavoring to maintain. We may take the liberty of +enriching our pages with one passage bearing upon the present part of +the subject.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p><p>"If the world were made by any antecedent Mind or Understanding, that +is by a Deity, then there must needs be an Idea and Exemplar of the +whole world before it was made, and consequently actual knowledge, both +in the order of Time and Nature, before Things. But conceiving of +knowledge as it was got by their own finite minds, and ignorant of any +evidence of an ideal Archetype for the world or any part of it, they +[the Democritic Philosophers who denied a Divine Creative Mind] affirmed +that there was none, and concluded that there could be no knowledge or +mind before the world was, as its cause." Plato's assertion of +Archetypal Ideas was a protest against this doctrine, but was rather a +guess, suggested by the nature of mathematical demonstration, than a +doctrine derived from a contemplation of the external world.</p> + +<p>"Now however," Mr. Owen continues, "the recognition of an ideal exemplar +for the vertebrated animals proves that the knowledge of such a being as +Man must have existed before Man appeared. For the Divine Mind which +planned the Archetypal also foreknew all its modifications. The +Archetypal Idea was manifested in the flesh under divers modifications +upon this planet, long prior to the existence of those animal species +which actually exemplify it. To what natural or secondary causes the +orderly succession and progression of such organic phenomena may have +been committed, we are as yet ignorant. But if without derogation to the +Divine Power, we may conceive such ministers and personify them by the +term <i>Nature</i>, we learn from the past history of our globe that she has +advanced with slow and stately steps, guided by the archetypal light +amidst the wreck of worlds, from the first embodiment of the vertebrate +idea, under its old ichthyic vestment, until it became arrayed in the +glorious garb of the human form."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p><p>4. Law implies a Lawgiver, even when we do not see the object of the +Law; even as Design implies a Designer, when we do not see the object of +the Design. The Laws of Nature are the indications of the operation of +the Divine Mind; and are revealed to us, as such, by the operations of +our minds, by which we come to discover them. They are the utterances of +the Creator, delivered in language which we can understand; and being +thus Language, they are the utterances of an Intelligent Spirit.</p> + +<p>5. It may seem to some persons too bold a view, to identify, so far as +we thus do, certain truths as seen by man, and as seen by God:<a name="FNanchor_1_73" id="FNanchor_1_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_73" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>—to +make the Divine Mind thus cognizant of the truths of geometry, for +instance. If any one has such a scruple, we may remark that truth, when +of so luminous and stable a kind as are the truths of geometry, must be +alike <i>Truth</i> for all minds, even for the highest. The mode of arriving +at the knowledge of such truths, may be very different, even for +different human minds;—deduction for some;—intuition for others. But +the intuitive apprehension of necessary truth is an act so purely +intellectual, that even in the Supreme Intellect, we may suppose that it +has its place. Can we conceive otherwise, than that God does contemplate +the universe as existing in space, since it really does so;—and subject +to the relations of space, since these are as real as space itself? We +are well aware that the Supreme Being must contemplate the world under +many other aspects than this;—even man does so. But that does not +prevent the truths, which belong to the aspect of the world, +contemplated as existing in space, from being truths, regarded as such, +even by the Divine Mind.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p><p>6. If these reflections are well founded, as we trust they will, on +consideration, be seen to be, we may adopt many of the expressions by +which philosophers heretofore have attempted to convey similar views; +for in fact, this view, in its general bearing at least, is by no means +new. The Mind of Man is a partaker of the thoughts of the Divine Mind. +The Intellect of Man is a spark of the Light by which the world was +created. The Ideas according to which man builds up his knowledge, are +emanations of the archetypal Ideas according to which the work of +creation was planned and executed. These, and many the like expressions, +have been often used; and we now see, we may trust, that there is a +great philosophical truth, which they all tend to convey; and this truth +shows at the same time, how man may have some knowledge respecting the +Laws of Nature, and how this knowledge may, in some cases, seem to be a +knowledge of necessary relations, as in the case of space.<a name="FNanchor_2_74" id="FNanchor_2_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_74" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p><p>7. Now, the views to which we have been led, bear very strongly upon +that argument. For if man, when he attains to a knowledge of such laws, +is really admitted, in some degree, to the view with which the Creator +himself beholds his creation;—if we can gather, from the conditions of +such knowledge, that his intellect partakes of the Nature of the Supreme +Intellect;—if his Mind, in its clearest and largest contemplations, +harmonizes with the Divine Mind;—we have, in this, a reason which may +well seem to us very powerful, why, even if the Earth alone be the +habitation of intelligent beings, still, the great work of Creation is +not wasted. If God have placed upon the earth a creature who can so far +sympathize with Him, if we may venture upon the expression;—who can +raise his intellect into some accordance with the Creative Intellect; +and that, not once only, nor by few steps, but through an indefinite +gradation of discoveries, more and more comprehensive, more and more +profound; each, an advance, however slight, towards a Divine +Insight;—then, so far as intellect alone (and we are here speaking of +intellect alone) can make Man a worthy object of all the vast +magnificence of Creative Power, we can hardly shrink from believing that +he is so.</p> + +<p>8. We may remark further, that this view of God, as the Author of the +Laws of the Universe, leads to a view of all the phenomena and objects +of the world, as the work of God; not a work made, and laid out of hand, +but a field of his present activity and energy. And such a view cannot +fail to give an aspect of dignity to all that is great in creation, and +of beauty to all that is symmetrical, which otherwise they could not +have. Accordingly, it is by calling to their thoughts the presence of +God as suggested by scenes of grandeur or splendor, that poets often +reach the sympathies of their readers. And this dignity and sublimity +appear especially to belong to the larger <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>objects, which are destitute +of conscious life; as the mountain, the glacier, the pine-forest, the +ocean; since in these, we are, as it were, alone with God, and the only +present witnesses of His mysterious working.</p> + +<p>9. Now if this reflection be true, the vast bodies which hang in the +sky, at such immense distances from us, and roll on their courses, and +spin round their axles with such exceeding rapidity; Jupiter and his +array of Moons, Saturn with his still larger host of Satellites, and +with his wonderful Ring, and the other large and distant Planets, will +lose nothing of their majesty, in our eyes, by being uninhabited; any +more than the summer-clouds, which perhaps are formed of the same +materials, lose their dignity from the same cause;—any more than our +Moon, one of the tribe of satellites, loses her soft and tender beauty, +when we have ascertained that she is more barren of inhabitants than the +top of Mount Blanc. However destitute the planets and moons and rings +may be of inhabitants, they are <i>at least vast scenes of God's +presence,</i> and of the activity with which he carries into effect, +everywhere, the laws of nature. The light which comes to us from them is +transmitted according to laws which He has established, by an energy +which He maintains. The remotest planet is not devoid of life, for God +lives there. At each stage which we make, from planet to planet, from +star to star, into the regions of infinity, we may say, with the +patriarch, "Surely God is here, and I knew it not." And when those who +question the habitability of the remote planets and stars are reproached +as presenting a view of the universe, which takes something from the +magnificence hitherto ascribed to it, as the scene of God's glory, shown +in the things which He has created; they may reply, that they do not at +all disturb that glory of the creation which arises from its being, not +only the product, but the constant field of God's <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>activity and thought, +wisdom and power; and they may perhaps ask, in return, whether the +dignity of the Moon would be greatly augmented if her surface were +ascertained to be abundantly peopled with lizards; or whether Mount +Blanc would be more sublime, if millions of frogs were known to live in +the crevasses of its glaciers.</p> + +<p>10. Again: the Earth is a scene of Moral Trial. Man is subject to a +Moral Law; and this Moral Law is a Law of which God is the Legislator. +It is a law which man has the power of discovering, by the use of the +faculties which God has given him. By considering the nature and +consequences of actions, man is able to discern, in a great measure, +what is right and what is wrong;—what he ought and what he ought not to +do;—what his duty and virtue, what his crime and vice. Man has a Law on +such subjects, written on his heart, as the Apostle Paul says. He has a +conscience which accuses or excuses him; and thus, recognizes his acts +as worthy of condemnation or approval. And thus, man is, and knows +himself to be, the subject of Divine Law, commanding and prohibiting; +and is here, in a state of probation, as to how far he will obey or +disobey this Law. He has impulses, springs of action, which urge him to +the violation of this Law. Appetite, Desire, Anger, Lust, Greediness, +Envy, Malice, impel him to courses which are vicious. But these impulses +he is capable of resisting and controlling;—of avoiding the vices and +practising the opposite virtues;—and of rising from one stage of Virtue +to another, by a gradual and successive purification and elevation of +the desires, affections and habits, in a degree, so far as we know, +without limit.</p> + +<p>11. Now in considering the bearing of this view upon our original +subject, we have, in the first place, to make this remark: that the +existence of a body of creatures, capable of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>such a Law, of such a +Trial, and of such an Elevation as this, is, according to all that we +can conceive, an object infinitely more worthy of the exertion of the +Divine Power and Wisdom, in the Creation of the universe, than any +number of planets occupied by creatures having no such lot, no such law, +no such capacities, and no such responsibilities. However imperfectly +the moral law be obeyed; however ill the greater part of mankind may +respond to the appointment which places them here in a state of moral +probation; however few those may be who use the capacities and means of +their moral purification and elevation;—still, that there is such a +plan in the creation, and that any respond to its appointments,—is +really a view of the Universe which we can conceive to be suitable to +the nature of God, because we can approve of it, in virtue of the moral +nature which He has given us. One school of moral discipline, one +theatre of moral action, one arena of moral contests for the highest +prizes, is a sufficient centre for innumerable hosts of stars and +planets, globes of fire and earth, water and air, whether or not +tenanted by corals and madrepores, fishes and creeping things. So great +and majestic are those names of <i>Right</i> and <i>Good</i>, <i>Duty</i> and <i>Virtue</i>, +that all mere material or animal existence is worthless in the +comparison.</p> + +<p>12. But further: let us consider what is this moral progress of which we +have spoken;—this purification and elevation of man's inner being. +Man's intellectual progress, his advance in the knowledge of the general +laws of the Universe, we found reason to believe that we were not +describing unfitly, when we spoke of it as bringing us nearer to +God;—as making our thoughts, in some degree, resemble His thoughts;—as +enabling us to see things as He sees them. And on that account, we held +that the placing man, with his intellectual powers, in a condition in +which he was impelled, and enabled, to seek such <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>knowledge, was of +itself a great thing, and tended much to give to the Creation a worthy +end. Now the moral elevation of man's being is the elevation of his +sentiments and affections towards a standard or idea, which God, by his +Law, has indicated as that point towards which man ought to tend. We do +not ascribe <i>Virtue</i> to God, adapting to Him our notions taken from +man's attributes, as we do when we ascribe Knowledge to God: for Virtue +implies the control and direction of human springs of action;—implies +human efforts and human habits. But we ascribe to God infinite Goodness, +Justice, and Truth, as well as infinite Wisdom and Power; and Goodness, +Justice, Truth, form elements of the character at which man also is, by +the Moral Law, directed to aim. So far, therefore, man's moral progress +is a progress towards a likeness with God; and such a progress, even +more than a progress towards an intellectual likeness with God, may be +conceived as making the soul of man fit to endure forever with God; and +therefore, as making this earth a prefatory stage of human souls, to fit +them for eternity;—a nursery of plants which are to be fully unfolded +in a celestial garden.</p> + +<p>13. And to this, we must add that, on other accounts also, as well as on +account of the capacity of the human soul for moral and intellectual +progress, thoughtful men have always been disposed, on grounds supplied +by the light of nature, to believe in the existence of human souls after +this present earthly life is past. Such a belief has been cherished in +all ages and nations, as the mode in which we naturally conceive that +which is apparently imperfect and deficient in the moral government of +the world, to be completed and perfected. And if this mortal life be +thus really only the commencement of an infinite Divine Plan, beginning +upon earth and destined to endure for endless ages after our earthly +life; we need no array <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>of other worlds in the universe to give +sufficient dignity and majesty to the scheme of the Creation.</p> + +<p>14. We may make another remark which may have an important bearing upon +our estimate of the value of the moral scheme of the world which +occupies the earth. If, by any act of the Divine Government, the number +of those men should be much increased, who raise themselves towards the +moral standard which God has appointed, and thus, towards a likeness to +God, and a prospect of a future eternal union with him;—such an act of +Divine Government would do far more towards making the Universe a scene +in which God's goodness and greatness were largely displayed, than could +be done by any amount of peopling of planets with creatures who were +incapable of moral agency; or with creatures whose capacity for the +development of their moral faculties was small, and would continue to be +small till such an act of Divine Government were performed. The +Interposition of God, in the history of man, to remedy man's feebleness +in moral and spiritual tasks, and to enable those who profit by the +Interposition, to ascend towards a union with God, is an event entirely +out of the range of those natural courses of events which belong to our +subject; and to such an Interposition, therefore, we must refer with +great reserve; using great caution that we do not mix up speculations +and conjectures of our own, with what has been revealed to man +concerning such an Interposition. But this, it would seem, we may +say:—that such a Divine Interposition for the moral and spiritual +elevation of the human race, and for the encouragement and aid of those +who seek the purification and elevation of their nature, and an eternal +union with God, is far more suitable to the Idea of a God of Infinite +Goodness, Purity, and Greatness, than any supposed multiplication of a +population, (on our planet or <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>on any other,) not provided with such +means of moral and spiritual progress.</p> + +<p>15. And if we were, instead of such a supposition, to imagine to +ourselves, in other regions of the Universe, a moral population purified +and elevated without the aid or need of any such Divine Interposition; +the supposed possibility of such a moral race would make the sin and +misery, which deform and sadden the aspect of our earth, appear more +dark and dismal still. We should therefore, it would seem, find no +theological congruity, and no religious consolation, in the assumption +of a Plurality of Worlds of Moral Beings: while, to place the seats of +such worlds in the Stars and the Planets, would be, as we have already +shown, a step discountenanced by physical reasons; and discountenanced +the more, the more the light of science is thrown upon it.</p> + +<p>16. Perhaps it may be said, that all which we have urged to show that +other animals, in comparison with man, are less worthy objects of +creative design, may be used as an argument to prove that other planets +are tenanted by men, or by moral and intellectual creatures like man; +since, if the creation of <i>one</i> world of such creatures exalts so highly +our views of the dignity and importance of the plan of creation, the +belief in <i>many</i> such worlds must elevate still more our sentiments of +admiration and reverence of the greatness and goodness of the Creator; +and must be a belief, on that account, to be accepted and cherished by +pious minds.</p> + +<p>17. To this we reply, that we cannot think ourselves authorized to +assert cosmological doctrines, selected arbitrarily by ourselves, on the +ground of their exalting our sentiments of admiration and reverence for +the Deity, <i>when the weight of all the evidence which we can obtain +respecting the constitution of the universe is against them</i>. It appears +to us, that to discern <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>one great scheme of moral and religious +government, which is the spiritual centre of the universe, may well +suffice for the religious sentiments of men in the present age; as in +former ages such a view of creation was sufficient to overwhelm men with +feelings of awe, and gratitude, and love; and to make them confess, in +the most emphatic language, that all such feelings were an inadequate +response to the view of the scheme of Providence which was revealed to +them. The thousands of millions of inhabitants of the Earth to whom the +effects of the Divine Plan extend, will not seem, to the greater part of +religious persons, to need the addition of more, to fill our minds with +sufficiently vast and affecting contemplations, so far as we are capable +of pursuing such contemplations. The possible extension of God's +spiritual kingdom upon the earth will probably appear to them a far more +interesting field of devout meditation, than the possible addition to it +of the inhabitants of distant stars, connected in some inscrutable +manner with the Divine Plan.</p> + +<p>18. To justify our saying that the weight of the evidence is against +such cosmological doctrines, we must recall to the reader's recollection +the whole course of the argument which we have been pursuing.</p> + +<p>It is a possible conjecture, at first, that there may be other Worlds, +having, as this has, their moral and intellectual attributes, and their +relations to the Creator. It is also a possible conjecture, that this +World, having such attributes, and such relations, may, on that account, +be necessarily unique and incapable of repetition, peculiar, and +spiritually central. These two opposite possibilities may be placed, at +first, front to front, as balancing each other. We must then weigh such +evidence and such analogies as we can find on the one side or on the +other. We see much in the intellectual and moral nature of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>man, and in +his history, to confirm the opinion that the human race is thus unique, +peculiar and central. In the views which Religion presents, we find much +more, tending the same way, and involving the opposite supposition in +great difficulties. We find, in our knowledge of what we ourselves are, +reasons to believe that if there be, in any other planet, intellectual +and moral beings, they must not only be <i>like</i> men, but must <i>be</i> men, +in all the attributes which we can conceive as belonging to such beings. +And yet to suppose other groups of the human species, in other parts of +the universe, must be allowed to be a very bold hypothesis, to be +justified only by some positive evidence in its favor. When from these +views, drawn from the attributes and relations of man, we turn to the +evidence drawn from physical conditions, we find very strong reason to +believe that, so far as the Solar System is concerned, the Earth <i>is</i>, +with regard to the conditions of life, in a peculiar and central +position; so that the conditions of any life approaching at all to human +life, exist on the Earth alone. As to other systems which may circle +other suns, the possibility of their being inhabited by men, remains, as +at first, a mere conjecture, without any trace of confirmatory evidence. +It was suggested at first by the supposed analogy of other stars to our +sun; but this analogy has not been verified in any instance; and has +been, we conceive, shown in many cases, to vanish altogether. And that +there may be such a plan of creation,—one in which the moral and +intelligent race of man is the climax and central point to which +innumerable races of mere unintelligent species tend,—we have the most +striking evidence, in the history of our own earth, as disclosed by +geology. We are left, therefore, with nothing to cling to, on one side, +but the bare possibility that some of the stars are the centres of +systems like the Solar System;—an opinion <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>founded upon the single +fact, shown to be highly ambiguous, of those stars being self-luminous; +and to this possibility, we oppose all the considerations, flowing from +moral, historical, and religious views, which represent the human race +as unique and peculiar. The force of these considerations will, of +course, be different in different minds, according to the importance +which each person attaches to such moral, historical, and religious +views; but whatever the weight of them may be deemed, it is to be +recollected that we have on the other side a bare possibility, a mere +conjecture; which, though suggested at first by astronomical +discoveries, all more recent astronomical researches have failed to +confirm in the smallest degree. In this state of our knowledge, and with +such grounds of belief, to dwell upon the Plurality of Worlds of +intellectual and moral creatures, as a highly probable doctrine, must, +we think, be held to be eminently rash and unphilosophical.</p> + +<p>19. On such a subject, where the evidences are so imperfect, and our +power of estimating analogies so small, far be it from us to speak +positively and dogmatically. And if any one holds the opinion, on +whatever evidence, that there are other spheres of the Divine Government +than this earth,—other regions in which God has subjects and +servants,—other beings who do his will, and who, it may be, are +connected with the moral and religious interests of man;—we do not +breathe a syllable against such a belief; but, on the contrary, regard +it with a ready and respectful sympathy. It is a belief which finds an +echo in pious and reverent hearts;<a name="FNanchor_3_75" id="FNanchor_3_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_75" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and it is, of itself, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>an evidence +of that religious and spiritual character in man, which is one of the +points of our argument. But the discussion of such a belief does not +belong to the present occasion, any further than to observe, that it +would be very rash and unadvised,—a proceeding unwarranted, we think, +by Religion, and certainly at variance with all that Science +teaches,—to place those other, extra-human spheres of Divine +Government, in the Planets and in the Stars. With regard to the planets +and the stars, if we reason at all, we must reason on physical grounds; +we must suppose, as to a great extent we can prove that the laws and +properties of terrestrial matter and motion apply to them also. On such +grounds, it is as improbable that visitants from Jupiter or from Sirius +can come to the Earth, as that men can pass to those stars: as unlikely +that inhabitants of those stars know and take an interest in human +affairs, as that we can learn what they are doing. A belief in the +Divine Government of other races of spiritual creatures besides the +human race, and in Divine Ministrations committed to such beings, cannot +be connected with our physical and astronomical views of the nature of +the stars and the planets, without making a mixture altogether +incongruous and incoherent; a mixture of what is material and what is +spiritual, adverse alike to sound religion and to sound philosophy.</p> + +<p>20. Perhaps again, it may be said, that in speaking of the shortness of +the time during which man has occupied the earth, in comparison with the +previous ages of irrational life, and of blank matter, we are taking man +at his present period of existence on the earth:—that we do not know +that the race may not be destined to continue upon the earth for as many +ages as preceded the creation of man. And to this we reply, that in +reasoning, as we must do, at the present period, we can only proceed +upon that which has happened up to the present period. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>If we do not +know how long man will continue to inhabit the earth, we cannot reason +as if we did know that he will inhabit it longer than any other species +has done. We may not dwell upon a mere possibility, which, it is +assumed, may at some indefinitely future period, alter the aspect of the +facts now before us. For it would be as easy to assume possibilities +which may come hereafter to alter the aspect of the facts, in favor of +the one side, as of the other.<a name="FNanchor_4_76" id="FNanchor_4_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_76" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> What the future destinies of our race, +and of the earth, may be, is a subject which is, for us, shrouded in +deep darkness. It would be very rash to assume that they will be such as +to alter the impression derived from what we now know, and to alter it +in a certain preconceived manner. But yet it is natural to form +conjectures on this subject; and perhaps we may be allowed to consider +for a moment what kind of conjectures the existing stage of our +knowledge suggests, when we allow ourselves the license of conjecturing. +The next Chapter contains some remarks bearing upon such conjectures.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_73" id="Footnote_1_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_73"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Among the most recent expositors of this doctrine we may +place M. Henri Martin, whose <i>Philosophie Spiritualiste de la Nature</i> is +full of striking views of the universe in its relation to God. (Paris. +1849.)</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_74" id="Footnote_2_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_74"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Most readers who have given any attention to speculations +of this kind, will recollect Newton's remarkable expressions concerning +the Deity: "Æternus est et infinitus, omnipotens et omnisciens; id est, +durat ab æterno in æternum, et adest ab infinito in infinitum.... Non +est æternitas et infinitas, sed æternus et infinitus; non est duratio et +spatium, sed durat et adest. Durat semper et adest ubique, et existendo +semper et ubique durationem et spatium constituit." +</p><p> +To say that God by existing always and everywhere <i>constitutes duration +and space</i>, appears to be a form of expression better avoided. Besides +that it approaches too near to the opinion, which the writer rejects, +that He <i>is</i> duration and space, it assumes a knowledge of the nature of +the Divine existence, beyond our means of knowing, and therefore rashly. +It appears to be safer, and more in conformity with what we really know, +to say, not that the existence of God constitutes time and space; but +that God has constituted <i>man</i>, so that <i>he</i> can apprehend the works of +creation, only as existing in time and space. That God has constituted +time and space as conditions of man's knowledge of the creation, is +certain: that God has constituted time and space as results of his own +existence in any other way, <i>we</i> cannot know.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_75" id="Footnote_3_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_75"><span class="label">[3]</span></a></p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"For doubt not that in other worlds above</span><br /> +<span class="i0">There must be other offices of love,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">That other tasks and ministries there are,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Since it is promised that His servants, there,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Shall serve Him still."—<span class="smcap">Trench</span>.</span><br /> +</div></div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_76" id="Footnote_4_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_76"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> For instance, we may assume that in two or three hundred +years, by the improvement of telescopes, or by other means, it may be +ascertained that the other planets of the Solar System are not +inhabited, and that the other Stars are not the centres of regular +systems.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p class="center">THE FUTURE.</p> + + +<p>1. We proceed then to a few reflections to which we cannot but feel +ourselves invited by the views which we have already presented in these +pages. What will be the future history of the human race, and what the +future destination of each individual, most persons will, and most +wisely, judge on far other grounds than the analogies which physical +science can supply. Analogies derived from such a quarter can throw +little light on those grave and lofty questions. Yet perhaps a few +thoughts on this subject, even if they serve only to show how little the +light thus attainable really is, may not be an unfit conclusion to what +has been said; and the more so, if these analogies of science, so far as +they have any specific tendency, tend to confirm some of the +convictions, with regard to those weighty and solemn points,—the +destiny of Man, and of Mankind,—which we derive from other and higher +sources of knowledge.</p> + +<p>2. Man is capable of looking back upon the past history of himself, his +Race, the Earth, and the Universe. So far as he has the means of doing +so, and so far as his reflective powers are unfolded, he cannot refrain +from such a retrospect. As we have seen, man has occupied his thoughts +with such contemplations, and has been led to convictions thereupon, of +the most <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>remarkable and striking kind. Man is also capable of looking +forwards to the future probable or possible history of himself, his +race, the earth, and the universe. He is irresistibly tempted to do +this, and to endeavor to shape his conjectures on the Future, by what he +knows of the Past. He attempts to discern what future change and +progress may be imagined or expected, by the analogy of past change and +progress, which have been ascertained. Such analogies may be necessarily +very vague and loose; but they are the peculiar ground of speculation, +with which we have here to deal. Perhaps man cannot discover with +certainty any fixed and permanent laws which have regulated those past +changes which have modified the surface and population of the earth; +still less, any laws which have produced a visible progression in the +constitution of the rest of the universe. He cannot, therefore, avail +himself of any close analogies, to help him to conjecture the future +course of events, on the earth or in the universe; still less can he +apply any known laws, which may enable him to predict the future +configurations of the elements of the world; as he can predict the +future configurations of the planets for indefinite periods. He can +foresee the astronomical revolutions of the heavens, so long as the +known laws subsist. He cannot foresee the future geological revolutions +of the earth, even if they are to be produced by the same causes which +have produced the past revolutions, of which he has learnt the series +and order. Still less can he foresee the future revolutions which may +take place in the condition of man, of society, of philosophy, of +religion; still less, again, the course which the Divine Government of +the world will take, or the state of things to which, even as now +conducted, it will lead.</p> + +<p>3. All these subjects are covered with a veil of mystery, which science +and philosophy can do little in raising. Yet these <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>are subjects to +which the mind turns, with a far more eager curiosity, than that which +it feels with regard to mere geological or astronomical revolutions. Man +is naturally, and reasonably, the greatest object of interest to man. +What shall happen to the human race, after thousands of years, is a far +dearer concern to him, than what shall happen to Jupiter or Sirius; and +even, than what shall happen to the continents and oceans of the globe +on which he lives, except so far as the changes of his domicile affect +himself. If our knowledge of the earth and of the heavens, of animals +and of man, of the past condition and present laws of the world, is +quite barren of all suggestion of what may or may not hereafter be the +lot of man, such knowledge will lose the charm which would have made it +most precious and attractive in the eyes of mankind in general. And if, +on such subjects, any conjectures, however dubious,—any analogies, +however loose,—can be collected from what we know, they will probably +be received as acceptable, in spite of their insecurity; and will be +deemed a fit offering from the scientific faculty, to those hopes and +expectations,—to that curiosity and desire of all knowledge,—which +gladly receive their nutriment and gratification from every province of +man's being.</p> + +<p>4. Now if we ask, what is likely to be the future condition of the +population of the earth as compared with the present; we are naturally +led to recollect, what has been the past condition of that population as +compared with the present. And here, our thoughts are at once struck by +that great fact, to which we have so often referred; which we conceive +to be established by irrefragable geological evidence, and of which the +importance cannot be overrated:—namely, the fact that the existence of +man upon the earth has been for only a few thousand years:—that for +thousands, and myriads, and it may be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>for millions of years, previous +to that period, the earth was tenanted, entirely and solely, by brute +creatures, destitute of reason, incapable of progress, and guided merely +by animal instincts, in the preservation and continuation of their +races. After this period of mere brute existence, in innumerable forms, +had endured for a vast series of cycles, there appeared upon the earth a +creature, even in his organization, superior far to all; but still more +superior, in his possession of peculiar endowments;—reason, language, +the power of indefinite progress, and of raising his thoughts towards +his Creator and Governor: in short, to use terms already employed, an +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual creature. After the ages +of intellectual darkness, there took place this creation of intellectual +light. After the long-continued play of mere appetite and sensual life, +there came the operation of thought, reflection, invention, art, +science, moral sentiments, religious belief and hope; and thus, life and +being, in a far higher sense than had ever existed, even in the highest +degree, in the long ages of the earth's previous existence.</p> + +<p>5. Now, this great and capital fact cannot fail to excite in us many +reflections, which, however vaguely and dimly, carry us to the prospect +of the future. The present being <i>so</i> related to the past, how may we +suppose that the future will be related to the present?</p> + +<p>In the first place, <i>this</i> is a natural reflection. The terrestrial +world having made this advance from brute to human life, can we think it +at all likely, that the present condition of the earth's inhabitants is +a final condition? Has the vast step from animal to human life, +exhausted the progressive powers of nature? or to speak more reverently +and justly, has it completed the progressive plan of the Creator? After +the great revolution by which man became what he is, can and will +nothing be done, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>to bring into being something better than now is; +however that future creature may be related to man? We leave out of +consideration any supposed progression, which may have taken place in +the animal creation previous to man's existence; any progression by +which the animal organization was made to approximate, gradually or by +sudden steps, to the human organization; partly, because such +successive approximation is questioned by some geologists; and is, at +any rate, obscure and perplexed: but much more, because it is not really +to our purpose. Similarity of organization is not the point in question. +The endowments and capacities of man, by which he is Man, are the great +distinction, which places all other animals at an immeasurable distance +below him. The closest approximation of form or organs, does nothing to +obliterate this distinction. It does not bring the monkey nearer to man, +that his tongue has the same muscular apparatus as man's, so long as he +cannot talk; and so long as he has not the thought and idea which +language implies, and which are unfolded indefinitely in the use of +language. The step, then, by which the earth became, a <i>human</i> +habitation, was an immeasurable advance on all that existed before; and +therefore there is a question which we are, it seems, irresistibly +prompted to ask, Is this the last such step? Is there nothing beyond it? +Man is the head of creation, in his present condition; but is that +condition the final result and ultimate goal of the progress of creation +in the plan of the Creator? As there was found and produced something so +far beyond animals, as man is, may there not also, in some course of the +revolutions of the world, be produced something far beyond what man is? +The question is put, as implying a difficulty in believing that it +should be so; and this difficulty must be very generally felt. +Considering how vast the resources of the Creative Power have been shown +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>to be, it is difficult to suppose they are exhausted. Considering how +great things have been done, in the progress of the work of creation, we +naturally think that even greater things than these, still remain to be +done.</p> + +<p>6. But then, on the other hand, there is an immense difficulty in +supposing, even in imagining, any further change, at all commensurate in +kind and degree, with the step which carried the world from a mere brute +population, to a human population. In a proportion in which the two +first terms are <i>brute</i> and <i>man</i>, what can be the third term? In the +progress from mere Instinct to Reason, we have a progress from blindness +to sight; and what can we do more than see? When pure Intellect is +evolved in man, he approaches to the nature of the Supreme Mind: how can +a creature rise higher? When mere impulse, appetite, and passion are +placed under the control and direction of duty and virtue, man is put +under Divine Government: what greater lot can any created being have?</p> + +<p>7. And the difficulty of conceiving any ulterior step at all analogous +to the last and most wonderful of the revolutions which have taken place +in the condition of the earth's inhabitants, will be found to grow upon +us, as it is more closely examined. For it may truly be said, the change +which occurred when man was placed on the earth, was not one which could +have been imagined and constructed beforehand, by a speculator merely +looking at the endowments and capacities of the creatures which were +previously living. Even in the way of organization, could any +intelligent spectator, contemplating anything which then existed in the +animal world, have guessed the wonderful new and powerful purposes to +which it was to be made subservient in man? Could such a spectator, from +seeing the <i>rudiments of a Hand</i>, in the horse or the cow, or even from +seeing the hand of a quadrumanous animal, have conjectured, that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>the +Hand was, in man, to be made an instrument by which infinite numbers of +new instruments were to be constructed, subduing the elements to man's +uses, giving him a command over nature which might seem supernatural, +taming or conquering all other animals, enabling him to scrutinize the +farthest regions of the universe, and the subtlest combinations of +material things?</p> + +<p>8. Or again; could such a spectator, by dissecting the tongues of +animals, have divined that the Tongue, in man, was to be the means of +communicating the finest movements of thought and feeling; of giving one +man, weak and feeble, an unbounded ascendency over robust and angry +multitudes; and, assisted by the (writing) hand, of influencing the +intimate thoughts, laws, and habits of the most remote posterity?</p> + +<p>9. And again, could such a spectator, seeing animals entirely occupied +by their appetites and desires, and the objects subservient to their +individual gratification, have ever dreamt that there should appear on +earth a creature who should desire to know, and should know, the +distances and motions of the stars, future as well as present; the +causes of their motions, the history of the earth, and his own history; +and even should know truths by which all possible objects and events not +only are, but must be regulated?</p> + +<p>10. And yet again, could such a spectator, seeing that animals obeyed +their appetites with no restraint but external fear, and knew of no +difference of good and bad except the sensual difference, ever have +imagined that there should be a creature acknowledging a difference of +right and wrong, as a distinction supreme over what was good or bad to +the sense; and a rule of duty which might forbid and prevent +gratification by an internal prohibition?</p> + +<p>11. And finally, could such a spectator, seeing nothing but <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>animals +with all their faculties thus entirely immersed in the elements of their +bodily being, have supposed that a creature should come, who should +raise his thoughts to his Creator, acknowledge Him as his Master and +Governor, look to His Judgment, and aspire to live eternally in His +presence?</p> + +<p>12. If it would have been impossible for a spectator of the præhuman +creation, however intelligent, imaginative, bold and inventive, to have +conjectured beforehand the endowments of such a creature as Man, taking +only those which we have thus indicated; it may well be thought, that if +there is to be a creature which is to succeed man, as man has succeeded +the animals, it must be equally impossible for us to conjecture +beforehand, what kind of creature <i>that</i> must be, and what will be <i>his</i> +endowments and privileges.</p> + +<p>13. Thus a spectator who should thus have studied the præhuman creation, +and who should have had nothing else to help him in his conjectures and +conceptions, (of course, by the supposition of a præhuman period, not +any knowledge of the operation of intelligence, though a most active +intelligence would be necessary for such speculations,) would not have +been able to divine the future appearance of a creature, so excellent as +Man; or to guess at his endowments and privileges, or his relation to +the previous animal creation; and just as little able may we be, even if +there is to exist at some time, a creature more excellent and glorious +than man, to divine what kind of creature he will be, and how related to +man. And here, therefore, it would perhaps be best, that we should quit +the subject; and not offer conjectures which we thus acknowledge to have +no value. Perhaps, however, the few brief remarks which we have still to +make, put forwards, as they are, merely as suggestions to be weighed by +others, can <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>not reasonably give offence, or trouble even the most +reverent thinker.</p> + +<p>14. To suppose a higher development of endowments which already exist in +man, is a natural mode of rising to the imagination of a being nobler +than man is; but we shall find that such hypotheses do not lead us to +any satisfactory result. Looking at the first of those features of the +superiority of man over brutes, which we have just pointed out, the +Human Hand, we can imagine this superiority carried further. Indeed, in +the course of human progress, and especially in recent times, and in our +own country, man employs instead of, or in addition to the hand, +innumerable instruments to make nature serve his needs and do his will. +He works by Tools and Machinery, derivative hands, which increase a +hundred-fold the power of the natural hand. Shall we try to ascend to a +New Period, to imagine a New Creature, by supposing this power increased +hundreds and thousands of times more, so that nature should obey man, +and minister to his needs, in an incomparably greater degree than she +now does? We may imagine this carried so far, that all need for manual +labor shall be superseded; and thus, abundant time shall be left to the +creature thus gifted, for developing the intellectual and moral powers +which must be the higher part of its nature. But still, that higher +nature of the creature itself, and not its command over external +material nature, must be the quarter in which we are to find anything +which shall elevate the creature above man, as man is elevated above +brutes.</p> + +<p>15. Or, looking at the second of the features of human superiority, +shall we suppose that the means of Communication of their thoughts to +each other, which exist for the human race, are to be immensely +increased, and that this is to be the leading feature of a New Period? +Already, in addition to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>the use of the tongue, other means of +communication have vastly multiplied man's original means of carrying on +the intercourse of thought:—writing, employed in epistles, books, +newspapers; roads, horses and posting establishments; ships; railways; +and, as the last and most notable step, made in our time, electric +telegraphs, extending across continents and even oceans. We can imagine +this facility and activity of communication, in which man so +immeasurably exceeds all animals, still further increased, and more +widely extended. But yet so long as what is thus communicated is nothing +greater or better than what is now communicated among men;—such news, +such thoughts, such questions and answers, as now dart along our +roads;—we could hardly think that the creature, whatever wonderful +means of intercourse with its fellow-creatures it might possess, was +elevated above man, so as to be of a higher nature than man is.</p> + +<p>16. Thus, such improved endowments as we have now spoken of, increased +power over materials, and increased means of motion and communication, +arising from improved mechanism, do little, and we may say, nothing, to +satisfy our idea of a more excellent condition than that of man. For +such extensions of man's present powers are consistent with the absence +of all intellectual and moral improvement. Men might be able to dart +from place to place, and even from planet to planet, and from star to +star, on wings, such as we ascribe to angels in our imagination: they +might be able to make the elements obey them at a beck; and yet they +might not be better, nor even wiser, than they are. It is not found +generally, that the improvement of machinery, and of means of +locomotion, among men, produces an improvement in morality, nor even an +improvement in intelligence, except as to particular points. We must +therefore look somewhat further, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>in order to find possible characters, +which may enable us to imagine a creature more excellent than man.</p> + +<p>17. Among the distinctions which elevate man above brutes, there is one +which we have not mentioned, but which is really one of the most +eminent. We mean, his faculty and habit of forming himself into +Societies, united by laws and language for some common object, the +furtherance of which requires such union. The most general and primary +kind of such societies, is that Civil Society which is bound together by +Law and Government, and which secures to men the Rights of property, +person, family, external peace, and the like. That this kind of society +may be conceived, as taking a more excellent character than it now +possesses, we can easily see: for not only does it often very +imperfectly attain its direct object, the preservation of Rights, but it +becomes the means and source of wrong. Not only does it often fail to +secure peace with strangers, but it acts as if its main object were to +enable men to make wars with strangers. If we were to conceive a +Universal and Perpetual Peace to be established among the nations of the +earth; (for instance by some general agreement for that purpose;) and if +we were to suppose, further, that those nations should employ all their +powers and means in fully unfolding the intellectual and moral +capacities of their members, by early education, constant teaching, and +ready help in all ways; we might then, perhaps, look forwards to a state +of the earth in which it should be inhabited, not indeed by a being +exalted above Man, but by Man exalted above himself as he now is.</p> + +<p>18. That by such combinations of communities of men, even with their +present powers, results may be obtained, which at present appear +impossible, or inconceivable, we may find good reason to believe; +looking at what has already been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>done, or planned as attainable by such +means, in the promotion of knowledge, and the extension of man's +intellectual empire. The greatest discovery ever made, the discovery, by +Newton, of the laws which regulate the motions of the cosmical system, +has been earned to its present state of completeness, only by the united +efforts of all the most intellectual nations upon earth; in addition to +vast labors of individuals, and of smaller societies, voluntarily +associated for the purpose. Astronomical observatories have been +established in every land; scientific voyages, and expeditions for the +purpose of observation, wherever they could throw light upon the theory, +have been sent forth; costly instruments have been constructed, +achievements of discovery have been rewarded; and all nations have shown +a ready sympathy with every attempt to forward this part of knowledge. +Yet the largest and wisest plans for the extension of human knowledge in +other provinces of science by the like means, have remained hitherto +almost entirely unexecuted, and have been treated as mere dreams. The +exhortations of Francis Bacon to men, to seek, by such means, an +elevation of their intellectual condition, have been assented to in +words; but his plans of a methodical and organized combination of +society for this purpose, it has never been even attempted to realize. +If the nations of the earth were to employ, for the promotion of human +knowledge, a small fraction only of the means, the wealth, the +ingenuity, the energy, the combination, which they have employed in +every age, for the destruction of human life and of human means of +enjoyment; we might soon find that what we hitherto knew, is little +compared with what man has the power of knowing.</p> + +<p>19. But there is another kind of Society, or another object of Society +among men, which in a still more important manner <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>aims at the elevation +of their nature. Man sympathizes with man, not only in his intellectual +aspirations, but in his moral sentiments, in his religious beliefs and +hopes, in his efforts after spiritual life. Society, even Civil Society, +has generally recognized this sympathy, in a greater or less degree; and +has included Morality and Religion, among the objects which it +endeavored to uphold and promote. But any one who has any deep and +comprehensive perception of man's capacities and aspirations, on such +subjects, must feel that what has commonly, or indeed ever, been done by +nations for such a purpose, has been far below that which the full +development of man's moral, religious, and spiritual nature requires. +Can we not conceive a Society among men, which should have for its +purpose, to promote this development, far more than any human society +has yet done?—a Body selected from all nations, or rather, including +all nations, the purpose of which should be to bind men together by a +universal feeling of kindness and mutual regard, to associate them in +the acknowledgment of a common Divine Lawgiver, Governor, and +Father;—to unite them in their efforts to divest themselves of the evil +of their human nature, and to bring themselves nearer and nearer to a +conformity with the Divine Idea; and finally, a Society which should +unite them in the hope of such a union with God that the parts of their +nature which seem to claim immortality, the Mind, the Soul, and the +Spirit, should endure forever in a state of happiness arising from their +exalted and perfected condition? And if we can suppose such a Society; +fully established and fully operative, would not this be a condition, as +far elevated above the ordinary earthly condition of man, as that of man +is elevated above the beasts that perish?</p> + +<p>20. Yet one more question; though we hesitate to mix such <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>suggestions +from analogy, with trains of thought and belief, which have their proper +nutriment from other quarters. We know, even from the evidence of +natural science, that God <i>has</i> interposed in the history of this Earth, +in order to place Man upon it. In that case, there was a clear, and, in +the strongest sense of the term, a <i>supernatural interposition</i> of the +Divine Creative Power. God interposed to place upon the earth, Man, the +social and rational being. God thus directly instituted Human Society; +gave man his privileges and his prospects in such society; placed him +far above the previously existing creation; and endowed him with the +means of an elevation of nature entirely unlike anything which had +previously appeared. Would it then be a violation of analogy, if God +were to interpose again, to institute a Divine Society, such as we have +attempted to describe; to give to its members their privileges; to +assure to them their prospects; to supply to them his aid in pursuing +the objects of such a union with each other; and thus, to draw them, as +they aspire to be drawn, to a spiritual union with Him?</p> + +<p>It would seem that those who believe, as the records of the earth's +history seem to show, that the establishment of Man, and of Human +Society, or of the germ of human society, upon the earth, was an +interposition of Creative Power beyond the ordinary course of nature; +may also readily believe that another supernatural Interposition of +Divine Power might take place, in order to plant upon the earth the Germ +of a more Divine Society; and to introduce a period in which the earth +should be tenanted by a more excellent creature than at present.</p> + +<p>21. But though we may thus prepare ourselves to assent to the +possibility, or even probability, of such a Divine Interposition, +exercised for the purpose of establishing upon earth a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>Divine Society: +it would be a rash and unauthorized step,—especially taking into +account the vast differences between material and spiritual things,—to +assume that such an Interposition would have any resemblance to the +commencement of a New Period in the earth's history, analogous to the +Periods by which that history has already been marked. What the manner +and the operation of such a Divine Interposition would be, Philosophy +would attempt in vain to conjecture. It is conceivable that such an +event should produce its effect, not at once, by a general and +simultaneous change in the aspect of terrestrial things, but gradually, +by an almost imperceptible progression. It is possible also that there +may be such an Interposition, which is only one step in the Divine +Plan;—a preparation for some other subsequent Interposition, by which +the change in the Earth's inhabitants is to be consummated. Or it is +possible that such a Divine Interposition in the history of man, as we +have hinted at, may be a preparation, not for a new form of terrestrial +life, but for a new form of human life;—not for a new peopling of the +Earth, but for a new existence of Man. These possibilities are so vague +and doubtful, so far as any scientific analogies lead, that it would be +most unwise to attempt to claim for them any value, as points in which +Science supplies support to Religion. Those persons who most deeply feel +the value of religion, and are most strongly convinced of its truths, +will be the most willing to declare, that religious belief is, and ought +to be, independent of any such support, and must be, and may be, firmly +established on its own proper basis.</p> + +<p>22. We find no encouragement, then, for any attempt to obtain, from +Science, by the light of the analogy of the past, any definite view of a +future condition of the Creation. And that this is so, we cannot, for +reasons which have been given, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>feel any surprise. Yet the reasonings +which we have, in various parts of this Essay, pursued, will not have +been without profit, even in their influence upon our religious +thoughts, if they have left upon our minds these convictions:—That if +the analogy of science proves anything, it proves that the Creator of +man can make a Creator as far superior to Man, as Man, when most +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual, is superior to the +brutes:—and again, That Man's Intellect is of a divine, and therefore +of an immortal nature. Those persons who can, on any basis of belief, +combine these two convictions, so as to feel that they have a personal +interest in both of them;—those who have such grounds as Religion, +happily appealed to, can furnish, for hoping that their imperishable +element may, hereafter, be clothed with a new and more glorious apparel +by the hand of its Almighty Maker;—may be well content to acknowledge +that Science and Philosophy could not give them this combined +conviction, in any manner in which it could minister that consolation, +and that trust in the Divine Power and Goodness, which human nature, in +its present condition, requires.</p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">the end.</span></p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h2><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber's Notes.</h2> + + +<p>Spelling irregularities where there was no obviously preferred version +were left as is. Variants include: "embedded" and "imbedded;" +"a hypothesis" and "an hypothesis;" +"inexhausted" and "unexhausted;" "volcanos" and "volcanoes."</p> + +<p>Changed "intelligencies" to "intelligences" on page xvi: "may be +rational intelligences."</p> + +<p>Changed "familar" to "familiar" on page 43: "had been familiar."</p> + +<p>Changed "Chalmer's" to "Chalmers'" on page 67: "Chalmers' reasonings."</p> + +<p>Inserted missing period after "live in the sea" on page 78.</p> + +<p>Changed "disapear" to "disappear" on page 82: "at last they disappear."</p> + +<p>Changed "natturally" to "naturally" on page 84: "we may naturally ask."</p> + +<p>Changed "planets" to "plants" on page 91: "plants and animals."</p> + +<p>Changed "intelligenee" to "intelligence" on page 125: "intelligence, +morality, religion."</p> + +<p>Changed "crystaline" to "crystalline" on page 126: "of crystalline +powers."</p> + +<p>Changed "dissimiliar" to "dissimilar" on page 128: "perpetually +dissimilar."</p> + +<p>Changed "words" to "worlds" on page 135: "plurality of worlds."</p> + +<p>Changed "insignificent" to "insignificant" on page 151: "insignificant +and insensible."</p> + +<p>Changed "tales" to "tails" on page 170: "tails of comets."</p> + +<p>Changed "Chambers'" to "Chalmers'" in the footnote on page 175: +"Chalmers' Astron. Disc."</p> + +<p>In the footnote on page 177, "the times of the warning" might be a +typographic error for "the times of the waning," but was not changed.</p> + +<p>Changed "disaprove" to "disprove" on page 185: "prove or disprove."</p> + +<p>Changed "one-thirteenth" to "one-thirtieth" on page 194: "be +one-thirtieth as large."</p> + +<p>Changed "skeletous" to "skeletons" on page 208: "Can they have +skeletons."</p> + +<p>In the footnote from page 217, "Schroeter" appears with the oe-ligature; +elsewhere it does not. The ligature was replaced by the two separate +characters in the footnote.</p> + +<p>Changed "how-however" to "however" in the footnote from page 233: "This, +however."</p> + +<p>Changed "hisorians" to "historians" on page 253: "natural-historians."</p> + +<p>Changed "Meaning" to "meaning" at the beginning of page 261, since it's +not a new sentence.</p> + +<p>Changed "crystalizes" to "crystallizes" and "crystaline" to +"crystalline" on page 265: "Ice crystallizes;" "crystalline aggregation."</p> + +<p>Changed "Artic" to "Arctic" in the footnote from page 265: "Account of +the Arctic Regions."</p> + +<p>Changed "kingdon" to "kingdom" on page 267: "the animal kingdom."</p> + +<p>Changed "splendour" to "splendor" on page 273: "the material splendor."</p> + +<p>Changed "hightest" to "highest" on page 295: "the highest degree."</p> + +<p>Changed "deely" to "deeply" on page 305: "who most deeply feel."</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Plurality of Worlds, by +William Whewell and Edward Hitchcock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS *** + +***** This file should be named 36288-h.htm or 36288-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/2/8/36288/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Plurality of Worlds + +Author: William Whewell + Edward Hitchcock + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [EBook #36288] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen H. Sentoff and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + +[Illustration: 51 Messier; 99 Messier] + + + + + THE + PLURALITY OF WORLDS. + + On Nature's Alps I stand, + And see a thousand firmaments beneath! + A thousand systems, as a thousand grains! + So much a stranger, _and so late arrived_, + How shall man's curious spirit not inquire + What are the natives of this world sublime, + Of this so distant, unterrestrial sphere, + Where mortal, untranslated, never strayed? + + NIGHT THOUGHTS. + + WITH AN INTRODUCTION + BY + EDWARD HITCHCOCK, D.D., + + PRESIDENT OF AMHERST COLLEGE, AND PROFESSOR OF + THEOLOGY AND GEOLOGY. + + BOSTON: + GOULD AND LINCOLN, + 50 WASHINGTON STREET. + + 1854. + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by + GOULD AND LINCOLN, + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of + the District of Massachusetts. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Although the opinions presented in the following Essay are put forwards +without claiming for them any value beyond what they may derive from the +arguments there offered, they are not published without some fear of +giving offence. It will be a curious, but not a very wonderful event, if +it should now be deemed as blamable to doubt the existence of +inhabitants of the Planets and Stars, as, three centuries ago, it was +held heretical to teach that doctrine. Yet probably there are many who +will be willing to see the question examined by all the light which +modern science can throw upon it; and such an examination can be +undertaken to no purpose, except the view which has of late been +generally rejected have the arguments in its favor fairly stated and +candidly considered. + +Though Revealed Religion contains no doctrine relative to the +inhabitants of planets and stars; and though, till within the last three +centuries, no Christian thinker deemed such a doctrine to be required, +in order to complete our view of the attributes of the Creator; yet it +is possible that at the present day, when the assumption of such +inhabitants is very generally made and assented to, many persons have so +mingled this assumption with their religious belief, that they regard it +as an essential part of Natural Religion. If any such persons find their +religious convictions interfered with, and their consolatory impressions +disturbed, by what is said in this Essay, the Author will deeply regret +to have had any share in troubling any current of pious thought +belonging to the time. But, as some excuse, it may be recollected, that +if such considerations had prevailed, this very doctrine, of the +Plurality of Worlds, would never have been publicly maintained. And if +such considerations are to have weight, it must be recollected, on the +other hand, that there are many persons to whom the assumption of an +endless multitude of Worlds appears difficult to reconcile with the +belief of that which, as the Christian Revelation teaches us, has been +done for this our World of Earth. In this conflict of religious +difficulties, on a point which rather belongs to science than to +religion, perhaps philosophical arguments may be patiently listened to, +if urged as arguments merely; and in that hope, they are here stated, +without reserve and without exaggeration. + +All speculations on subjects in which Science and Religion bear upon +each other, are liable to one of the two opposite charges;--that the +speculator sets Philosophy and Religion at variance; or that he warps +Philosophy into a conformity with Religion. It is confidently hoped that +no candid reader will bring either of these charges against the present +Essay. With regard to the latter, the arguments must speak for +themselves. To the Author at least, they appear to be of no small +philosophical force; though he is quite ready to weigh carefully and +candidly any answers which may be offered to them. With regard to the +amount of agreement between our Philosophy and Religion, it may perhaps +be permitted to the Author to say, that while it appears to him that +some of his philosophical conclusions fall in very remarkably with +certain points of religious doctrine, he is well aware that Philosophy +alone can do little in providing man with the consolations, hopes, +supports, and convictions which Religion offers; and he acknowledges it +as a ground of deep gratitude to the Author of all good, that man is +not left to Philosophy for those blessings; but has a fuller assurance +of them, by a more direct communication from Him. + +Perhaps, too, the Author may be allowed to say, that he has tried to +give to the book, not only a moral, but a scientific interest; by +collecting his scientific facts from the best authorities, and the most +recent discoveries. He would flatter himself, in particular, that the +view of the Nebulae and of the Solar System, which he has here given, may +be not unworthy of some attention on the part of astronomers and +observers, as an occasion of future researches in the skies. + + + + + CONTENTS + OF + THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS. + + + PAGE + + Introduction. 9 + + CHAPTER I. + Astronomical Discoveries. 17 + + CHAPTER II. + Astronomical Objection to Religion. 33 + + CHAPTER III. + The Answer from the Microscope. 41 + + CHAPTER IV. + Further Statement of the Difficulty. 49 + + CHAPTER V. + Geology. 72 + + CHAPTER VI. + The Argument from Geology. 98 + + CHAPTER VII. + The Nebulae. 135 + + CHAPTER VIII. + The Fixed Stars. 163 + + CHAPTER IX. + The Planets. 192 + + CHAPTER X. + Theory of the Solar System. 219 + + CHAPTER XI. + The Argument from Design. 236 + + CHAPTER XII. + The Unity of the World. 275 + + CHAPTER XIII. + The Future. 292 + + + + + INTRODUCTORY NOTICE + TO THE + AMERICAN EDITION. + + +It is an interesting feature in the literature of our day, that so many +minds are turning their attention to the bearings of science upon +religion. With a few honorable exceptions, Christian scholars have +regarded this as a most unpromising field, which they have left to the +tilting and gladiatorship of scepticism. But we owe it mainly to the +disclosures of geology, that the tables are beginning to be turned. For +a long time suspected of being in league with infidelity, it was treated +as an enemy, and Christians thought only of fortifying themselves +against its attacks. But they are finding out, that if this science has +been seen in the enemy's camp, it was only because of their jealousy +that it was compelled to remain there; like captives that are sometimes +pushed forwards to cover the front rank and receive the fire of their +friends. Judging from the number of works, some of them very able, that +appear almost monthly from the press, in which illustrations of +religion are drawn from geology, we may infer that this science is +beginning to be recognized by the friends of religion as an efficient +auxiliary. + +"The Plurality of Worlds," now republished, is the most recent work of +this description that has fallen under our notice. We can see no reason +why an Essay of so much ability, in which the reasoning is so +dispassionate, and opponents are treated so candidly, should appear +anonymously. True, the author takes ground against some opinions widely +maintained respecting the extent of the inhabited universe, and seems to +suppose that he shall meet with little sympathy; and this may be his +reason, though in our view quite insufficient, for remaining incognito. +We think he will find that there are a secret seven thousand, who never +have bowed their understandings to a belief of many of the doctrines +which he combats, and he might reasonably calculate that his reasoning +will add seven thousand more to the number. We confess, however, that +though we have long been of this number to a certain extent, we cannot +go as far as this writer has done in his conclusions. + +All the world is acquainted with Dr. Chalmers' splendid Astronomical +Discourses. Assuming, or rather supposing that he has proved, that the +universe contains a vast number of worlds peopled like our own, he +imagines the infidel to raise an objection to the mission of the Son of +God, on the ground that this world is too insignificant to receive such +an extraordinary interposition. His replies to this objection, drawn +chiefly from our ignorance, are ingenious and convincing. But the author +of the Plurality of Worlds doubts the premises on which the objection is +founded. He thinks the facts of science will not sustain the conclusion +that many of the heavenly bodies are inhabited; certainly not with moral +and intellectual beings like man. Nay, by making his appeal to geology, +he thinks the evidence strong against such an opinion. This science +shows us that this world was once certainly in a molten state, and very +probably, at a still earlier date, may have been dissipated into +self-luminous vapor, like the nebulae or the comets. Immense periods, +then, must have passed before any organic structures, such as have since +peopled the earth, could have existed. And during the vast cycles that +have elapsed since the first animals and plants appeared upon the globe, +it was not in a proper condition to have sustained any other than the +inferior races. Accordingly, it has been only a few thousand years since +man appeared. + +Now, so far as astronomy has revealed the condition of other worlds, +almost all of them appear to be passing through those preparatory +changes which the earth underwent previous to man's creation. What are +the unresolvable nebulae and most of the comets also, but intensely +heated vapor and gas? What is the sun but a molten globe, or perhaps +gaseous matter condensed so as to possess almost the density of water? +The planets beyond Mars, also, (excluding the asteroids,) appear to be +in a liquid condition, but not from heat, and therefore may be composed +of water, or some fluid perhaps lighter than water; or at least be +covered by such fluid. Moreover, so great is their distance from the +sun, that his light and heat could not sustain organic beings such as +exist upon the earth. Of the inferior planets, Mercury is so near the +sun that it would be equally unfit for the residence of such beings. +Mars, Venus, and the Moon, then, appear to be the only worlds known to +us capable of sustaining a population at all analogous to that upon +earth. But of these, the Moon appears to be merely a mass of +extinguished volcanos, with neither water nor atmosphere. It has +proceeded farther in the process of refrigeration than the earth, +because it is smaller; and in its present state, is manifestly unfit for +the residence either of rational or irrational creatures. So that we are +left with only Mars and Venus in the solar system to which the common +arguments in favor of other worlds being inhabited, will apply. + +But are not the fixed stars the suns of other systems? We will thank +those who think so, to read the chapter in this work that treats of the +fixed stars, and we presume they will be satisfied that at least many of +these bodies exhibit characters quite irreconcilable with such an +hypothesis. And if some are not central suns, the presumption that the +rest are, is weakened, and we must wait till a greater perfection of +instruments shall afford us some positive evidence, before we know +whether our solar system is a type of any others. + +Thus far, it seems to us, our author has firm ground, both geological +and astronomical, to stand upon. But he does not stop here. He takes the +position that probably our earth may be the only body in the solar +system, nay in the universe, where an intellectual, moral and immortal +being, like man, has an existence. He makes the "earth the domestic +hearth of the solar system; adjusted between the hot and fiery haze on +one side, and the cold and watery vapor on the other: the only fit +region to be a domestic hearth, a seat of habitation." He says that "it +is quite agreeable to analogy that the solar system should have borne +but one fertile flower. And even if any number of the fixed stars were +also found to be barren flowers of the sky, we need not think the powers +of creation wasted, or frustrated, thrown away, or perverted." He does +not deny that some other worlds may be the abodes of plants and animals +such as peopled this earth during the long ages of preadamic history. +But he regards the creation of man as the great event of our world. He +looks upon the space between man and the highest of the irrational +creatures, as a vast one: for though in physical structure they approach +one another, in intellectual and moral powers they cannot be compared. +He does not think it derogatory to Divine Wisdom to have created and +arranged all the other bodies of the universe to give convenience and +elegance to the abode of such a being; especially since this was to be +the theatre of the work of redemption. + +Now we sympathize strongly in views that give dignity and exaltation to +man, and not at all with that debasing philosophy, so common at this +day, that looks upon him as little more than a somewhat improved orang. +But we cannot admit that man is the only exalted created being to be +found among the vast array of worlds around us. Geology does, indeed, +teach us, that it is no disparagement of Divine Wisdom and benevolence +to make a world--and if one, why not many--the residence of inferior +creatures; nay to leave it without inhabitants through untold ages. But +it also shows us, that when such worlds have passed through these +preparatory changes, rational and immortal beings may be placed upon +them. Nay, does not the history of our world show us that this seems to +be the grand object of such vast periods of preparation. And is it not +incredible, that amid the countless bodies of the universe, a single +globe only, and that a small one, should have reached the condition +adapted to the residence of beings made in the image of God? Of what +possible use to man are those numberless worlds visible only through the +most powerful telescopes? Surely such a view gives us a very narrow idea +of the plans and purposes of Jehovah, and one not sustained in our +opinion by the analogies of science. + +There is another principle to which our author attaches, as we think, +too little importance in this connection. When we see how vast is the +variety of organic beings on this globe, and how manifold the conditions +of their existence; how exactly adapted they are to the solid, the +liquid, and the gaseous states of matter, can we doubt that rational and +intelligent beings may be adapted to physical conditions in other worlds +widely diverse from those on this globe? May not spirits be connected +with bodies much heavier, or much lighter, than on earth; nay, with mere +tenuous ether; and those bodies, perhaps, be better adapted to the play +of intellect than ours; and be unaffected by temperatures which, on +earth, would be fatal? It does seem to us that such conclusions are +legitimate inferences from the facts of science; and if so, we can +hardly avoid the conclusion that there may be races of intelligent +beings upon other worlds where the condition of things is widely +different from that on earth. Yet there is a limit to this principle; +and when we can prove another world to be in a similar condition to our +earth, when it was inhabited by preadamic races, or not at all +inhabited, the presumption is strong, that such a world has inhabitants +of a like character, or none at all. + +Our author makes but a slight allusion to some most important statements +of revelation, that seem to us to bear strongly upon the hypothesis +which he adopts. We refer to the existence of angels, holy and unholy. +In the history of the latter, we learn that _they kept not their first +estate, but left their own habitation_. Have we not here an example of +other rational creatures, more exalted than man, who, like him, have +fallen from their first estate; and does not the presumption hence +arise, that there may be similar examples in other worlds? And is there +not a probability, that holy angels now in heaven, may be rational +intelligences who have passed a successful probation in other worlds? It +does seem to us, that these biblical facts make the hypothesis of our +author respecting man extremely improbable. + +But though we must demur as to some of the views of this work, we can +cordially recommend its perusal to intelligent and reasoning minds. It +is an effort in the right direction, and we think will do much to +correct some false notions respecting the Plurality of Worlds. And even +the author's peculiar hypothetical views are sustained with much +ability. He states the facts of geology and astronomy with great +clearness and correctness, and seems quite familiar with mathematical +reasoning. Nor does he advance opinions that come into collision with +natural or revealed religion; though, as already stated, we think his +favorite notions narrow our conceptions of the Divine plans and +purposes. We predict for the work an extended circulation among +scientific men and theologians; and commend it with confidence to all +readers--and in our country they are numerous--who are fond of tracing +out the connection between science and religion. + + E. H. + Amherst College, April, 1854. + + + + +THE +PLURALITY OF WORLDS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES. + + +"When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the +stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of +him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?" + +1. These striking words of the Hebrew Psalmist have been made, by an +eloquent and pious writer of our own time, the starting point of a +remarkable train of speculation. Dr. Chalmers, in his _Astronomical +Discourses_, has treated the reflection thus suggested, in connection +with such an aspect of the heavens and the stars, the earth and the +universe, as modern astronomy presents to us. Even from the point of +view in which the ancient Hebrew looked at the stars; seeing only their +number and splendor, their lofty position, and the vast space which they +visibly occupy in the sky; compared with the earth, which lies dark, and +mean, and perhaps small in extent, far beneath them, and on which man +has his habitation; it appeared wonderful, and scarcely credible, that +the maker of all that array of luminaries, the lord of that wide and +magnificent domain, should occupy himself with the concerns of men: and +yet, without a belief in His fatherly care and goodness to us, +thoughtful and religious persons, accustomed to turn their minds +constantly to a Supreme Governor and constant Benefactor, are left in a +desolate and bewildered state of feeling. The notion that while the +heavens are the work of God's fingers, the sun, moon, and stars ordained +by him, He is _not_ mindful of man, does not regard him, does not visit +him, was not tolerable to the thought of the Psalmist. While we read, we +are sure that he believed that, however insignificant and mean man might +be, in comparison with the other works of God,--however difficult it +might seem to conceive, that he should be found worthy the regards and +the visits of the Creator of All,--yet that God _was_ mindful of him, +and _did_ visit him. The question, "What is man, that this is so?" +implies that there is an answer, whether man can discover it or not. +"_What_ is man, that God is mindful of him?" indicates a belief, +unshaken, however much perplexed, that man is _something_, of such a +kind that God _is_ mindful of him. + +2. But if there was room for this questioning, and cause for this +perplexity, to a contemplative person, who looked at the skies, with +that belief concerning the stars, which the ancient Hebrew possessed, +the question recurs with far greater force, and the perplexity is +immeasurably increased, by the knowledge, concerning the stars, which is +given to us by the discoveries of modern astronomy. The Jew probably +believed the earth to be a region, upon the whole, level, however +diversified with hills and valleys, and the skies to be a vault arched +over this level;--a firmament in which the moon and the stars were +placed. What magnitude to assign to this vault, he had no means of +knowing; and indeed, the very aspect of the nocturnal heavens, with the +multitude of stars, of various brightness, which come into view, one set +after another, as the light of day dies away, suggests rather the notion +of their being scattered through a vast depth of space, at various +distances, than of their being so many lights fastened to a single +vaulted surface. But however he might judge of this, he regarded them as +placed in a space, of which the earth was the central region. The host +of heaven all had reference to the earth. The sun and the moon were +there, in order to give light to it, by day and by night. And if the +stars had not that for their principal office, as indeed the amount of +light which they gave was not such as to encourage such a belief,--and +perhaps the perception, that the stars must have been created for some +other object than to give light to man, was one of the principal +circumstances which suggested the train of thought that we are now +considering;--yet still, the region of the stars had the earth for its +centre and base. Perhaps the Psalmist, at a subsequent period of his +contemplations, when he was pondering the reflections which he has +expressed in this passage, might have been led to think that the stars +were placed there in order to draw man's thoughts to the greatness of +the Creator of all things; to give some light to his mental, rather than +to his bodily eye; to show how far His mode of working transcends man's +faculties; to suggest that there are things in heaven, very different +from the things which are on earth. If he thought thus, he was only +following a train of thought on which contemplative minds, in all ages +and countries, have often dwelt; and which we cannot, even now, +pronounce to be either unfounded or exhausted; as we trust hereafter to +show. But whether or not this be so, we may be certain that the Psalmist +regarded the stars, as things having a reference to the earth, and yet +not resembling the earth; as works of God's fingers, very different from +the earth with its tribes of inhabitants; as luminaries, not worlds. In +the feeling of awe and perplexity, which made him ask, "What is man that +thou art mindful of him?" there was no mixture of a persuasion that +there were, in those luminaries, creatures, like man, the children and +subjects of God; and therefore, like man, requiring his care and +attention. In asking, "What is man, that thou visitest him?" there was +no latent comparison, to make the question imply, "that thou visitest +_him_, rather than those who dwell in those abodes?" It was the +multitude and magnificence of God's works, which made it seem strange +that he should care for a _thing_ so small and mean as man; not the +supposed multitude of God's intelligent creatures inhabiting those +works, which made it seem strange that he should attend to every +_person_ upon this earth. It was not that the Psalmist thought that, +among a multitude of earths, all peopled like this earth, man might seem +to be in danger of being overlooked and neglected by his Maker; but +that, there being only one earth, occupied by frail, feeble, sinful, +short-lived creatures, it might be unworthy the regards of Him who dwelt +in regions of eternal light and splendor, unsullied by frailty, +inaccessible to corruption. + +3. This, we can have no doubt, or something resembling this, was the +Psalmist's view, when he made the reflection, which we have taken as the +basis of our remarks. And even in this view, (which, after all that +science has done, is perhaps still the most natural and familiar,) the +reflection is extremely striking; and the words cannot be uttered +without finding an echo in the breast of every contemplative and +religious person. But this view is, as most readers at this time are +aware, very different from that presented to us by Modern Astronomy. The +discoveries made by astronomers are supposed by most persons to have +proved, or to have made it in the highest degree probable, that this +view of the earth, as the sole habitation of intelligent subjects of +God's government; and of the stars, as placed in a region of which the +earth is the centre, and yet differing in their nature from this lower +world; is altogether erroneous. According to astronomers, the earth is +not a level space, but a globe. Some of the stars which we see in the +vault of heaven, are globes, like it; some smaller than the earth, some +larger. There are reasons, drawn from analogy, for believing that these +globes, the other planets, are inhabited by living creatures, as the +earth is. The earth is not at rest, with the celestial luminaries +circulating above it, as the ancients believed, but itself moves in a +circle about the sun, in the course of every year; and the other planets +also move round the sun in like manner, in circles, some within and some +without that which the earth describes. This collection of planets, thus +circulating about the sun, is the SOLAR SYSTEM: of which the earth thus +forms a very small part. Jupiter and Saturn are much larger than the +earth. Mars and Venus are nearly as large. If these be inhabited, as the +Earth is, which the analogy of their form, movements and conditions, +seems to suggest, the population of the earth is a very small portion of +the population of the solar system. And if the mere number of the +subjects of God's government could produce any difficulty in the +application of his providence to them, a person to whom this view of the +world which we inhabit had been disclosed, might well, and with far more +reason than the Psalmist, exclaim, "Lord, what is man, that thou art +mindful of him? the inhabitants of this Earth, that thou regardest him?" + +4. But this is only the first step in the asserted revelations of +astronomy. Some of the stars are, as we have said, planets of the kind +just described. But these stars are a few only:--five, or at most six, +of those visible to the unassisted eye of man. All the rest, innumerable +as they appear, and numerous as they really are, are, it is found, +objects of another kind. They are not, as the planets are, opaque +globes, deriving their light from a sun, about which they circulate. +They shine by a light of their own. They are of the nature of the sun, +not of the planets. That they appear mere specks of light, arises from +their being at a vast distance from us. At a vast distance they +undoubtedly are; for even with our most powerful telescopes, they still +appear mere specks of light;--mere luminous points. They do not, as the +planets do, when seen through telescopes, exhibit to us a circular face +or disk, capable of being magnified and distinguished into parts and +features. But this impossibility of magnifying them by means of +telescopes, does not at all make us doubt that they may be far larger +than the planets. For we know, from other sources of information, that +their distance is immensely greater than that of any of the planets. We +can measure the bodies of the solar system;--the earth, by absolutely +going round a part of it, or in other ways; the other bodies of the +system, by comparing their positions, as seen from different parts of +the earth. In this manner we find that the earth is a globe 8,000 miles +in diameter. In this way, again, we find that the circle which the earth +describes round the sun has, in round numbers, a radius about 24,000 +times the earth's radius; that is, nearly a hundred millions of miles. +The earth is, at one time, a hundred millions of miles on one side of +the sun; and at another time, half a year afterwards, a hundred millions +of miles on the other side. Of the bright stars which shine by their own +light,--the _fixed stars_, as we call them, (to distinguish them from +the planets, the _wandering stars_,)--if any one were at any moderate +distance from us, we should see it change its apparent place with regard +to the others, in consequence of our thus changing our point of view two +hundred millions of miles: just as a distant spire changes its apparent +place with regard to the more distant mountain, when we move from one +window of our house to the other. But no such change of place is +discernible in any of the fixed stars: or at least, if we believe the +most recent asserted discoveries of astronomers, the change is so small +as to imply a distance in the star, of more than two hundred thousand +times the radius of the earth's orbit, which is, itself, as we have +said, one hundred millions of miles.[1] This distance is so vastly +great, that we can very well believe that the fixed stars, though to our +best telescopes they appear only as points of light, are really as large +as our sun, and would give as much light as he does, if we could +approach as near to them. For since they are thus, the nearest of them, +two hundred thousand times as far off as he is, even if we could magnify +them a thousand times, which we can hardly do, they would still be only +one two-hundredth of the breadth of the sun; and thus, still a mere +point. + +5. But if each fixed star be of the nature of the sun, and not smaller +than the sun, does not analogy lead us to suppose that they have, some +of them at least, planets circulating about them, as our sun has? If the +Sun is the centre of the Solar System, why should not Sirius, (one of +the brightest of the fixed stars,) be the centre of the _Sirian System_? +And why should not that system have as many planets, with the same +resemblances and differences of the figure, movements, and conditions of +the different planets, as this? Why should not the Sirian System be as +great and as varied as the solar system? And this being granted, why +should not these planets be inhabited, as men have inferred the other +planets of the solar system, as well as the earth, to be? And thus we +have, added to the population of the universe of which we have already +spoken, a number (so far as we have reason to believe) not inferior to +the number of inhabitants of the solar system: this number being, +according to all the analogies, very many fold that of the population of +the whole earth? + +And this is the conclusion, when we reason from one star only, from +Sirius. But the argument is the same, from each of the stars. For we +have no reason to think that Sirius, though one of the brightest, is +more like our sun than any of the others is. The others appear less +bright in various degrees, probably because they are further removed +from us in various degrees. They may not be all of the same size and +brightness; it is very unlikely that they are. But they may as easily be +larger than the sun, as smaller. The natural assumption for us to make, +having no ground for any other opinion, is, that they are, upon the +average, of the size of our sun. On that assumption, we have as many +solar systems as we have fixed stars; and, it may be, six or ten, or +twenty times as many inhabited globes; inhabited by creatures of whom +we must suppose, by analogy, that God is mindful, if he is mindful of +us. The question recurs with overwhelming force, if we still follow the +same train of reflection: "What is man, that God is mindful of him?" + +6. But we have not yet exhausted the views which thus add to the force +of this reflection. The fixed stars, which appear to the eye so +numerous, so innumerable, in the clear sky on a moonless night, are not +really so numerous as they seem. To the naked eye, there are not visible +more than four or five thousand. The astronomers of Greece, and of other +countries, even in ancient times, counted them, mapped them, and gave +them names and designations. But Astronomy, who thus began her career by +diminishing, in some degree, the supposed numbers of the host of heaven, +has ended by immeasurably increasing them. The first application of the +telescope to the skies discovered a vast number of fixed stars, +previously unseen: and every improvement in that instrument has +disclosed myriads of new stars, visibly smaller than those which had +before been seen; and smaller and smaller, as the power of vision is +more and more strengthened by new aids from art; as if the regions of +space contained an inexhaustible supply of such objects; as if infinite +space were strewn with stars in every part of it to which vision could +reach. The small patch of the sky which forms, at any moment, the field +of view of one of the great telescopes of Herschel, discloses to him as +many stars, and those of as many different magnitudes, as the whole +vault of the sky exhibits to the naked eye. But the magnifying power of +such an instrument only discloses, it does not make, these stars. There +appears to be quite as much reason to believe, that each of these +telescopic stars is a sun, surrounded by its special family of planets, +as to believe that Sirius or Arcturus is so. Here, then, we have again +an extension, indefinite to our apprehension, of the universe, as +occupied by material structures; and if so, why not by a living +population, such as the material structures which are nearest to us +support? + +7. Even yet we have not finished the series of successive views which +astronomers have had opened to them, extending more and more their +spectacle of the fulness and largeness of the universe. Not only does +the telescope disclose myriads of stars, unseen to the naked eye, and +new myriads with each increase of the powers of the instrument; but it +discloses also patches of light, which, at first at least, do not appear +to consist of stars: _Nebulae_, as they are called; bright specks, it +might seem, of stellar matter, thin, diffused, and irregular; not +gathered into regular and definite forms, such as we may suppose the +stars to be. Every one who has noticed the starry skies, may understand +what is the general aspect of such nebulae, by looking at the milky way +or galaxy, an irregular band of nebulous light, which runs quite round +the sky; "A circling zone, powdered with stars;" as Milton calls it. But +the nebulae of which I more especially speak, are minute patches, +discovered mainly by the telescope, and in a few instances only +discernible by the naked eye. And what I have to remark especially +concerning them at present is, that though to visual powers which barely +suffice to discern them, they appear like mere bright clouds, patches of +diffused starry matter; yet that, when examined by visual powers of a +higher order, by more penetrating telescopes, these patches of +continuous feeble light are, in many instances at least, distinguishable +into definite points: they are found, in fact, to be aggregations of +stars; which before appeared as diffused light, only because our +telescopes, though strong enough to reveal to our senses the aggregate +mass of light of the cluster, were not strong enough to enable us to +discern any one of the stars of which the cluster consists. The galaxy, +in this way, may, in almost every part, be _resolved_ into separate +stars; and thus, the multitude of the stars in the region of the sky +occupied by that winding stream of light, is, when examined by a +powerful telescope, inconceivably numerous. + +8. The small telescopic nebulae are of various forms; some of them may be +in the shape of flat strata, or cakes, as it were, of stars, of small +thickness, compared with the extent of the stratum. Now, if our sun were +one of the individuals of such a stratum, we, looking at the stars of +the stratum from his neighborhood, should see them very numerous and +close in the direction of the edge of the stratum, and comparatively few +and rare in other parts of the sky. We should, in short, see a galaxy +running round the sky, as we see in fact. And hence Sir William Herschel +has inferred, that our sun, with its attendant planets, has its place in +such a stratum; and that it thus belongs to a host of stars which are, +in a certain way, detached from the other nebulae which we see. Perhaps, +he adds, some of those other nebulae are beds and masses of stars not +less numerous than those which compose our galaxy, and which occupy a +larger portion of the sky, only because we are immersed in the interior +of the crowd. And thus, a minute speck of nebulous light, discernible +only by a good telescope, may contain not only as many stars as occupy +the sky to ordinary vision, but as many as is the number into which the +most powerful telescope resolves the milky light of the galaxy. And of +such resolvable nebulae the number which are discovered in the sky is +very great, their forms being of the most various kind; so that many of +them may be, for aught we can tell, more amply stocked with stars than +the galaxy is. And if all the stars, or a large proportion of the +stars, of the galaxy, be suns attended by planets, and these planets +peopled with living creatures, what notion must we form of the +population of the universe, when we have thus to reckon as many galaxies +as there are resolvable nebulae! the stock of discoverable nebulae being +as yet unexhausted by the powers of our telescopes; and the possibility +of resolving them into stars being also an operation which has not yet +been pursued to its limit. + +9. For, (and this is the last step which I shall mention in this long +series of ascending steps of multitude apparently infinite,) it now +begins to be suspected that not some nebulae only, but _all_, are +resolvable into separate stars. When the nebulae were first carefully +studied, it was supposed that they consisted, as they appeared to +consist, of some diffused and incoherent matter, not of definite and +limited masses. It was conceived that they were not stars, but Stellar +Matter in the course of formation into stars; and it was conceived, +further, that by the gradual concentration of such matter, whirling +round its centre while it concentrated, not only stars, that is, suns, +might be formed, but also systems of planets, circling round these suns; +and thus this _Nebular Hypothesis_, as it has been termed, gave a kind +of theory of the origin and formation of systems, such as the solar +system. But the great telescope which Lord Rosse has constructed, and +which is much more powerful than any optical instrument yet fabricated, +has been directed to many of the nebulae, whose appearance had given rise +to this theory; and the result has been, in a great number of cases, +that the nebulae are proved to consist entirely of distinct stars; and +that the diffused nebulous appearance is discovered to have been an +illusion, resulting from the accumulated light of a vast number of small +stars near to each other. In this manner, we are led to regard every +nebula, not as an imperfectly formed star or system, but as a vast +multitude of stars, and, for aught we can tell, of systems; for the +apparent smallness and nearness of these stars are, it is thought, mere +results of the vast distance at which they are placed from us. And thus, +perhaps, all the nebulae are, what some of them seem certainly to be, so +many vast armies of stars, each of which stars, we have reason to +believe, is of the nature of our sun; and may have, and according to +analogy has, an accompaniment of living creatures, such as our sun has, +certainly on the earth, probably, it is thought, in the other planets. + +10. It is difficult to grasp, in one view, the effect of the successive +steps from number to number, from distance to distance, which we have +thus been measuring over. We may, however, state them again briefly, in +the way of enumeration. + +From our own place on the earth, we pass, in thought, as a first step, +to the whole globe of the Earth; from this, as a second step, to the +Planets, the other globes which compose the Solar System. A third step +carries us to the Fixed Stars, as visible to the naked eye; very +numerous and immensely distant. The transition to the Telescopic Stars +makes a fourth step; and in this, the number and the space are +increased, almost beyond the power of numbers to express how many there +are, and at what distances. But a fifth step:--perhaps all this array of +stars, obvious and telescopic, only make up our Nebula; while the +universe is occupied by other Nebulae innumerable, so distant that, seen +from them, our nebula, though including, it may be, stars of the 20th +magnitude, which may be 20 times or 2,000 times more remote than Sirius, +would become a telescopic speck, as their nebulae are to us. + +11. Various images and modes of representation have been employed, in +order to convey to the mind some notion of the dimensions of the scheme +of the universe to which we are thus introduced. Thus, we may reckon +that a cannon-ball, moving with its usual original velocity unabated, +would describe the interval between the sun and the earth in about one +year. And this being so, the same missile would, from what has been +said, occupy more, we know not how much more, than 200,000 years in +going to the nearest fixed star: and perhaps a thousand times as much, +in going to other stars belonging to our group; and then again, 200,000 +times so much, or some number of the like order, in going from one group +to another. When we have advanced a step or two in this mode of +statement, the velocity of the cannon-ball hardly perceptibly affects +the magnitude of the numbers which we have to use. + +And the same nearly is the case if we have recourse to the swiftest +motion with which we are acquainted; that of Light. Light travels, it is +shown by indisputable scientific reasonings, in about eight minutes from +the sun to the earth. Hence we can easily calculate that it would occupy +at least three years to travel as far as Sirius, and probably, three +thousand years, or a much greater number, to reach to the smallest +stars, or to come from them to us. And thus, as Sir W. Herschel +remarked, since light is the only vehicle by which information +concerning these distant bodies is conveyed to us, we do, by seeing +them, receive information, not what they are at this moment, but what +they were, as to visible condition, thousands of years ago. Stars may +have been created when man was created, and yet their light may not have +reached him.[2] Stars may have been extinguished thousands of years +ago, and yet may still be visible to our eyes, by means of the light +which they emitted previous to their extinction, and which has not yet +died away. + +12. So vast then are the distances at which the different bodies of the +universe are distributed; and yet so numerous are those bodies. In the +vastness of their distances, there is, indeed, nothing which need +disturb our minds, or which, after a little reflection, is likely to do +so: for when we have said all that can be said, about the largeness of +these distances, still there is no difficulty in finding room for them. +We necessarily conceive _Space_ as being infinite in its extent: however +much space the heavenly bodies occupy, there is space beyond them: if +they are not there, space is there nevertheless. That the stars and +planets are so far from each other, is an arrangement which prevents +their disturbing each other with their mutual attractions, to any +destructive extent; and is an arrangement which the spacious, the +infinite universe, admits of, without any difficulty. + +13. But we are more especially concerned with the _Numbers_ of the +heavenly bodies. So many planets about our sun: so many suns, each +perhaps with its family of planets: and then, all these suns making but +one group: and other groups coming into view, one after another, in +seemingly endless succession: and all these planets being of the nature +of our earth, as all these stars are of the nature of our sun:--all +this, presents to us a spectacle of a world--of a countless host of +worlds--of which, when we regard them as thus arranged in planetary +systems, and as having, according to all probability, years and seasons, +days and nights, as we have, we cannot but accept it as at least a +likely suggestion, that they have also inhabitants;--intelligent beings +who can reckon these days and years; who subsist on the fruits which +the season brings forth, and have their daily and yearly occupations, +according to their faculties. When we take, as our scheme of the +universe, such a scheme as this, we may well be overwhelmed with the +number of provinces, besides that in which man dwells, which the empire +of the Lord of all includes; and, recurring to the words of the +Psalmist, we may say with a profundity of meaning immeasurably +augmented--"Lord, what is man?" + +It was this view, I conceive, which Dr. Chalmers had in his thoughts, in +pursuing the speculations which I have mentioned, in the outset of this +Essay. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] It is quite to our purpose to recollect the impression which such +discoveries naturally make upon a pious mind. + + Oh! rack me not to such extent, + These distances belong to Thee; + The world's too little for Thy tent, + A grave too big for me! + GEORGE HERBERT. + +[2] This thought is, however, older. Young expresses it in his _Night +Thoughts_, Night IX., (published in 1744): + + How distant some of these nocturnal suns! + So distant (says the sage) 'twere not absurd + To doubt if beams, set out at nature's birth, + Are yet arrived at this so foreign world. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTION TO RELIGION. + + +1. Such astronomical views, then, as those just stated, we may suppose +to be those to which Chalmers had reference, in the argument of his +_Astronomical Discourses_. These real or supposed discoveries of +astronomers, or a considerable part of them, were the facts which were +present to his mind, and of which he there discusses the bearings upon +religious truths. This multiplicity of systems and worlds, which the +telescopic scrutiny of the stars is assumed to have disclosed, or to +have made probable, is the main feature in the constitution of the +universe, as revealed by science, to which his reflections are directed. +Nor can we say that, in fixing upon this view, he has gone out of his +way, to struggle with obscure and latent difficulties, such as the bulk +of mankind know and care little about. For in reality, such views are +generally diffused in our time and country, are common to all classes of +readers, and as we may venture to express it, are the _popular_ views of +persons of any degree of intellectual culture, who have, directly or +derivatively, accepted the doctrines of modern science. Among such +persons, expressions which imply that the stars are globes of luminous +matter, like the sun; that there are, among them, systems of revolving +bodies, seats of life and of intelligence; are so frequent and +familiar, that those who so speak, do not seem to be aware that, in +using such expressions, they are making any assumption at all; any more +than they suppose themselves to be making assumptions, when they speak +of the globular form of the earth, or of its motion round the sun, or of +its revolution on its axis. It was, therefore, a suitable and laudable +purpose, for a writer like Chalmers, well instructed in science, of +large and comprehensive views with regard both to religion and to +philosophy, of deep and pervasive piety, and master of a dignified and +persuasive eloquence, to employ himself in correcting any erroneous +opinions and impressions respecting the bearing which such scientific +doctrines have upon religious truth. It was his lot to labor among men +of great intellectual curiosity, acuteness, and boldness: it was his +tendency to deal with new views of others on the most various subjects, +religious, philosophical, and social; and, on such subjects, to +originate new views of his own. It fell especially within his province, +therefore, to satisfy the minds of the public who listened to him, with +regard to the conflict, if a conflict there was, or seemed to be, +between new scientific doctrines, and permanent religious verities. He +was, by his culture and his powers, peculiarly fitted, and therefore +peculiarly called, to mediate between the scientific and the religious +world of his time. + +2. The scientific doctrine which he especially deals with, in the work +to which I refer, is the multiplicity of worlds;--the existence of many +seats of life, of enjoyment, of intelligence; and it may be, as he +suggests also, of moral law, of transgression, of alienation from God, +and of the need, and of the means, of reconciliation to Him; or of +obedience to Him and sympathy with Him. That if there be many worlds +resembling our world in other respects, they may resemble it in some of +these, is an obvious, and we may say, an irresistible conjecture, in any +speculative mind to which the doctrine itself has been conveyed. Nor can +it fail to be very interesting, to see how such a writer as I have +described deals with such a suggestion; how far he accepts or inclines +to accept it; and if so, what aspect such a view leads him to give to +truths, either belonging to Natural or to Revealed Theology, which, +before the introduction of such a view, were regarded as bearing only +upon the world of which man is the inhabitant. + +3. The mode in which Chalmers treats this suggestion, is to regard it as +the ground of an objection to Religion, either Natural or Revealed. He +supposes an objector to take his stand upon the multiplicity of worlds, +assumed or granted as true; and to argue that, since there are so many +worlds beside this, all alike claiming the care, the government, the +goodness, the interposition, of the Creator, it is in the highest degree +extravagant and absurd, to suppose that he has done, for this world, +that which Religion, both Natural and Revealed, represents him as having +done, and as doing. When we are told that God has provided, and is +constantly providing, for the life, the welfare, the comfort of all the +living things which people this earth, we can, by an effort of thought +and reflection, bring ourselves to believe that it is so. When we are +further told that He has given a moral law to man, the intelligent +inhabitant of the earth, and governs him by a moral government, we are +able, or at least the great bulk of thoughtful men, on due consideration +of all the bearings of the case, are able, to accept the conviction, +that this also is so. When we are still farther asked to believe that +the imperfect sway of this moral law over man has required to be +remedied by a special interposition of the Governor of the world, or by +a series of special interpositions, to make the Law clear, and to +remedy the effects of man's transgression of it; this doctrine +also,--according to the old and unscientific view, which represents the +human race as, in an especial manner, the summit and crown of God's +material workmanship, the end of the rest of creation, and the selected +theatre of God's dealings with transgression and with obedience,--we can +conceive, and, as religious persons hold, we can find ample and +satisfactory evidence to believe. But if this world be merely one of +innumerable worlds, all, like it, the workmanship of God; all, the seats +of life, like it; others, like it, occupied by intelligent creatures, +capable of will, of law, of obedience, of disobedience, as man is; to +hold that this world has been the scene of God's care and kindness, and +still more, of his special interpositions, communications, and personal +dealings with its individual inhabitants, in the way which Religion +teaches, is, the objector is conceived to maintain, extravagant and +incredible. It is to select one of the millions of globes which are +scattered through the vast domain of space, and to suppose that one to +be treated in a special and exceptional manner, without any reason for +the assumption of such a peculiarity, except that this globe happens to +be the habitation of us, who make this assumption. If Religion require +us to assume, that one particular corner of the Universe has been thus +singled out, and made an exception to the general rules by which all +other parts of the Universe are governed; she makes, it may be said, a +demand upon our credulity which cannot fail to be rejected by those who +are in the habit of contemplating and admiring those general laws. Can +the Earth be thus the centre of the moral and religious universe, when +it has been shown to have no claim to be the centre of the physical +universe? Is it not as absurd to maintain this, as it would be to hold, +at the present day, the old Ptolemaic hypothesis, which places the +Earth in the centre of the heavenly motions, instead of the newer +Copernican doctrine, which teaches that the Earth revolves round the +Sun? Is not Religion disproved, by the necessity under which she lies, +of making such an assumption as this? + +4. Such is, in a general way, the objection to Religion with which +Chalmers deals; and, as I have said, his mode of treating it is highly +interesting and instructive. Perhaps, however, we shall make our +reasonings and speculations apply to a wider class of readers, if we +consider the view now spoken of, not as an objection, urged by an +opponent of religion, but rather as a difficulty, felt by a friend of +religion. It is, I conceive, certain that many of those who are not at +all disposed to argue against religion, but who, on the contrary, feel +that their whole internal comfort and repose are bound up indissolubly +with their religious convictions, are still troubled and dismayed at the +doctrines of the vastness of the universe, and the multitude of worlds, +which they suppose to be taught and proved by astronomy. They have a +profound reverence for the Idea of God; they are glad to acknowledge +their constant and universal dependence upon His preserving power and +goodness; they are ready and desirous to recognize the working of His +providence; they receive the moral law, as His law, with reverence and +submission; they regard their transgressions of this law as sins against +Him; and are eager to find the mode of reconciliation to Him, when thus +estranged from him; they willingly think of God, as near to them. But +while they listen to the evidence which science, as we have said, sets +before them, of the long array of groups, and hosts, and myriads, of +worlds, which are brought to our knowledge, they find themselves +perturbed and distressed. They would willingly think of God as near to +them; but during the progress of this enumeration, He appears, at every +step, to be removed further and further from them. To discover that the +Earth is so large, the number of its inhabitants so great, its form so +different from what man at first imagines it, may perhaps have startled +them; but in this view, there is nothing which a pious mind does not +easily surmount. But if Venus and Mars also have their inhabitants; if +Saturn and Jupiter, globes so much larger than the earth, have a +proportional amount of population; may not man be neglected or +overlooked? Is he worthy to be regarded by the Creator of all? May not, +must not, the most pious mind recur to the exclamation of the Psalmist: +"Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" And must not this +exclamation, under the new aspect of things, be accompanied by an +enfeebled and less confident belief that God _is_ mindful of him? And +then, this array of planets, which derive their light from the Sun, +extends much further than even the astronomer at first suspected. The +orbit of Saturn is ten times as wide as the orbit of the earth; but +beyond Saturn, and almost twice as far from the sun, Herschel discovers +Uranus, another great planet; and again, beyond Uranus, and again at +nearly twice _his_ distance, the subtle sagacity of the astronomers of +our day, surmises, and then detects, another great planet. In such a +system as this, the earth shrinks into insignificance. Can its concerns +engage the attention of him who made the whole? But again, this whole +Solar System itself, with all its orbits and planets, shrinks into a +mere point, when compared with the nearest fixed star. And again, the +distance which lies between us and such stars, shrinks into incalculable +smallness, when we journey in thought to other fixed stars. And again, +and again, the field of our previous contemplation suffers an +immeasurable contraction, as we pass on to other points of view. + +5. And in all these successive moves, we are still within the dominions +of the same Creator and Governor; and at every move, we are brought, we +may suppose, to new bodies of his subjects, bearing, in the expansion of +their number, some proportion to the expanse of space which they occupy. +And if this be so, how shall the earth, and men, its inhabitants, thus +repeatedly annihilated, as it were, by the growing magnitude of the +known Universe, continue to be anything in the regard of Him who +embraces all? Least of all, how shall men continue to receive that +special, persevering, providential, judicial, personal care, which +religion implies; and without the belief of which, any man who has +religious thoughts, must be disturbed and unhappy, desolate and +forsaken? + +6. Such are, I conceive, the thoughts of many persons, under the +influence of the astronomical views which Chalmers refers to as being +sometimes employed against religious belief. Of course, it is natural +that the views which are used by unbelievers as arguments against +religious belief, should create difficulties and troubles in the minds +of believers; at least, till the argument is rebutted. And of course +also, the answers to the arguments, considered as infidel arguments, +would operate to remove the difficulties which believers entertain on +such grounds. Chalmers' reasonings against such arguments, therefore, +will, so for as they are valid, avail to relieve the mental trouble of +believers, who are perplexed and oppressed by the astronomical views of +which I have spoken; as well as to confute and convince those who reject +religion, on such astronomical grounds. It may, however, as I have said, +be of use to deal with these difficulties rather as difficulties of +religious men, than as objections of irreligious men; to examine rather +how we can quiet the troubled and perplexed believer, than how we can +triumph over the dogmatic and self-satisfied infidel. I, at least, +should wish to have the former, rather than the latter of these tasks, +regarded as that which I propose to myself. + +I shall hereafter attempt to explain more fully the difficulties which +the doctrine of the Plurality of Worlds appears to some persons to throw +in the way of Revealed Religion; but before I do so, there is one part +of Chalmers' answer, bearing especially upon Natural Religion, which it +may be proper to attend to. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANSWER FROM THE MICROSCOPE. + + +1. It is not my business, nor my intention, to criticize the remarkable +work of Chalmers to which I have so often referred. But I may say, that +the arguments there employed by him, so far as they go upon astronomical +or philosophical grounds, are of great weight; and upon the whole, such +as we may both assent to, as scientifically true, and accept as +rationally persuasive. I think, however, that there are other arguments, +also drawn from scientific discoveries, which bear, in a very important +and striking manner, upon the opinions in question, and which Chalmers +has not referred to; and I conceive that there are philosophical views +of another kind, which, for those who desire and who will venture to +regard the Universe and its Creator in the wider and deeper relations +which appear to be open to human speculation, may be a source of +satisfaction. When certain positive propositions, maintained as true +while they are really highly doubtful, have given rise to difficulties +in the minds of religious persons, other positive propositions, +combating these, propounded and supported by argument, that they may be +accepted according to their evidence, may, at any rate, have force +enough to break down and dissipate such loosely founded difficulties. To +present to the reader's mind such speculations as I have thus +indicated, is the object of the following pages. They can, of course, +pretend to no charm, except for persons who are willing to have their +minds occupied with such difficulties and such speculations as I have +referred to. Those who are willing to be so employed, may, perhaps, find +in what I have to say something which may interest them. For, of the +arguments which I have to expound, some, though they appear to me both +very obvious and very forcible, have never, so far as I am aware, been +put forth in that religious bearing which seems to belong to them; and +others, though aspiring to point out in some degree the relation of the +Universe and its Creator, are of a very simple kind; that is, for minds +which are prepared to deal with such subjects at all. + +2. As I have said, the arguments with which we are here concerned refer +both to Natural Religion and to Revealed Religion; and there is one of +Chalmers' arguments, bearing especially upon the former branch of the +subject, which I may begin by noticing. Among the thoughts which, it was +stated, might naturally arise in men's minds, when the telescope +revealed to them an innumerable multitude of worlds besides the one +which we inhabit, was this: that the Governor of the Universe, who has +so many worlds under his management, cannot be conceived as bestowing +upon this Earth, and its various tribes of inhabitants, that care which, +till then, Natural Religion had taught men that he does employ, to +secure to man the possession and use of his faculties of mind and body; +and to all animals the requisites of animal existence and animal +enjoyment. And upon this Chalmers remarks, that just about the time when +science gave rise to the suggestion of this difficulty, she also gave +occasion to a remarkable reply to it. Just about the same time that the +invention of the _Telescope_ showed that there were innumerable worlds, +which might have inhabitants requiring the Creator's care as much as the +tribes of this earth do,--the invention of the _Microscope_ showed that +there were, in this world, innumerable tribes of animals, which had been +all along enjoying the benefits of the Creator's care, as much as those +kinds with which man had been familiar from the beginning. The telescope +suggested that there might be dwellers in Jupiter or in Saturn, of giant +size and unknown structure, who must share with us the preserving care +of God. The microscope showed that there had been, close to us, +inhabiting minute crevices and crannies, peopling the leaves of plants, +and the bodies of other animals, animalcules of a minuteness hitherto +unguessed, and of a structure hitherto unknown, who had been always +sharers with us in God's preserving care. The telescope brought into +view worlds as numerous as the drops of water which make up the ocean; +the microscope brought into view a world in almost every drop of water. +Infinity in one direction was balanced by infinity in the other. The +doubts which men might feel as to what God could do, were balanced by +certainties which they discovered, as to what he had always been doing. +His care and goodness could not be supposed to be exhausted by the +hitherto known population of the earth, for it was proved that they had +not hitherto been confined to that population. The discovery of new +worlds at vast distances from us, was accompanied by the discovery of +new worlds close to us, even in the very substances with which we were +best acquainted; and was thus rendered ineffective to disturb the belief +of those who had regarded the world as having God for its governor. + +3. This is a striking reflection, and is put by Chalmers in a very +striking manner; and it is well fitted to remove the scruples to which +it is especially addressed. If there be any persons to whom the +astronomical discoveries which the telescope has brought to light, +suggests doubts or difficulties with regard to such truths of Natural +Religion as God's care for and government of the inhabitants of the +earth, the discoveries of the many various forms of animalcular life +which the microscope has brought to light are well fitted to remove such +doubts, and to solve such difficulties. We may easily believe that the +power of God to sustain and provide for animal life, animal sustenance, +animal enjoyment, can suffice for innumerable worlds besides this, +without being withdrawn or distracted or wearied in this earth; for we +find that it does suffice for innumerable more inhabitants of this earth +than we were before aware of. If we had imagined before, that, in +conceiving God as able and willing to provide for the life and pleasure +of all the sentient beings which we knew to exist upon the earth, we had +formed an adequate notion of his power and of his goodness, these +microscopical discoveries are well adapted to undeceive us. They show us +that all the notions which our knowledge, hitherto, had enabled us to +form of the powers and attributes of the Creator and Preserver of all +living things, are vastly, are immeasurably below the real truth of the +case. They show us that God, as revealed to us in the animal creation, +is the Author and Giver of life, of the organization which life implies, +of the contrivances by which it is conducted and sustained, of the +enjoyment by which it is accompanied,--to an extent infinitely beyond +what the unassisted vision of man could have suggested. The facts which +are obvious to man, from which religious minds in all ages have drawn +their notions and their evidence of the Divine power and goodness, care +and wisdom, in providing for its creatures, require, we find, to be +indefinitely extended, in virtue of the new tribes of minute creatures, +and still new tribes, and still more minute, which we find existing +around us. The views of our Natural Theology must be indefinitely +extended on one side; and therefore we need not be startled or disturbed +at having to extend them indefinitely on the other side;--at having to +believe that there are, in other worlds, creatures whom God has created, +whom he sustains in life, for whom he provides the pleasures of life, as +he does for the long unsuspected creatures of this world. + +4. This is, I say, a reflection which might quiet the mind of a person, +whom astronomical discoveries had led to doubt of the ordinary doctrines +of Natural Religion. But, I think, it may be questioned, whether, to +produce such doubts, is a common or probable effect of an acquaintance +with astronomical discoveries. Undoubtedly, by such discoveries, a +person who believes in God, in his wisdom, power, and goodness, on the +evidence of the natural world, is required to extend and exalt his +conceptions of those Divine Attributes. He had believed God to be the +Author of many forms of life;--he finds him to be the Author of still +more forms of life. He had traced many contrivances in the structure of +animals, for their sustentation and well-being; his new discoveries +disclose to him (for that is undoubtedly among the effects of +microscopic researches) still more nice contrivances. He had seen reason +to think that all sentient beings have their enjoyments; he finds new +fields of enjoyment of the same kind. But in all this, there is little +or nothing to disturb the views and convictions of the Natural +Theologian. He must, even by the evidence of facts patent to ordinary +observation, have been led to believe that the Divine Wisdom and Power +are not only great, but great in a degree which we cannot fathom or +comprehend;--that they are, to our apprehension, infinite: his new +discoveries only confirm the impression of this infinite character of +the Divine Attributes. He had before believed the existence of an +intelligent and wise Creator, on the evidence of the marks of design and +contrivance, which the creation exhibited: of such design and +contrivance he discovers new marks, new examples. He had believed that +God is good, because he found those contrivances invariably had the good +of the creature for their object: he finds, still, that this is the +general, the universal scheme of the creation, now when his view of it +is extended. He has no difficulty in expanding his religious +conceptions, to correspond with his scientific discoveries, so far as +the microscope is the instrument of discovery; there is no reason why he +should have any more difficulty in doing the same, when the telescope is +his informant. It is true, that in this case the information is more +imperfect. It does not tell him, even that there are living inhabitants +in the regions which it reveals; and, consequently, it does not disclose +any of those examples of design which belong to the structure of living +things. But if we suppose, from analogy, that there are living things in +those regions, we have no difficulty in conceiving, from analogy also, +that those living things are constructed with a care and wisdom such as +appear in the inhabitants of earth. It will not readily or commonly +occur to a speculator on such subjects, that there is any source of +perplexity or unbelief, in such an assumption of inhabitants of other +worlds, even if we make the assumption. It is as easy, it may well and +reasonably be thought, for God to create a population for the planets as +to make the planets themselves;--as easy to supply Jupiter with tenants, +as with satellites;--as easy to devise the organization of an inhabitant +of Saturn, as the structure and equilibrium of Saturn's ring. It is no +more difficult for the Universal Creator to extend to those bodies the +powers which operate in organized matter, than the powers which operate +in brute matter. It is as easy for Him to establish circulation and +nutrition in material structures, as cohesion and crystallization, which +we must suppose the planetary masses to possess; or attraction and +inertia, which we know them to possess. No doubt, to our conception, +organization appears to be a step beyond cohesion; circulation of living +fluids, a step beyond crystallization of dead masses:--but then, it is +in tracing such steps, that we discern the peculiar character of the +Creator's agency. He does not merely work with mechanical and chemical +powers, as man to a certain extent can do; but with organic and vital +powers, which man cannot command. The Creator, therefore, can animate +the dust of each planet, as easily as make the dust itself. And when +from organic life we rise to sentient life, we have still only another +step in the known order of Creative Power. To create animals, in any +province of the Universe, cannot be conceived as much more +incomprehensible or incredible, than to create vegetables. No doubt, the +addition of the living and sentient principle to the material, and even +to the organic structure, is a mighty step; and one which may, perhaps, +be made the occasion of some speculative suggestions, in a subsequent +part of this Essay; but still, it is not likely that any one, who had +formed his conceptions of the Divine Mind from its manifestations in the +production and sustentation of animal, as well as vegetable life, on +this earth, would have his belief in the operation of such a Mind, +shaken, by any necessity which might be impressed upon him, of granting +the existence of animal life on other planets, as well as on the earth, +or even on innumerable such planets, and on innumerable systems of +planets and worlds, system above system. + +5. The remark of Chalmers, therefore, to which I have referred, +striking as it is, does not appear to bear directly upon a difficulty of +any great force. If astronomy gives birth to scruples which interfere +with religion, they must be found in some other quarter than in the +possibility of mere animal life existing in other parts of the Universe, +as well as on our earth. That possibility may require us to enlarge our +idea of the Deity, but it has little or no tendency to disturb our +apprehension of his attributes. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +FURTHER STATEMENT OF THE DIFFICULTY. + + +1. We have attempted to show that if the discoveries made by the +Telescope should excite in any one's mind, difficulties respecting those +doctrines of Natural Religion,--the adequacy of the Creator to the +support and guardianship of all the animal life which may exist in the +universe,--the discoveries of the Microscope may remove such +difficulties; but we have remarked also, that the train of thought which +leads men to dwell upon such difficulties does not seem to be common. + +But what will be the train of thought to which we shall be led, if we +suppose that there are, on other planets, and in other systems, not +animals only, living things, which, however different from the animals +of this earth, are yet in some way analogous to them, according to the +difference of circumstances; but also creatures analogous to +man;--intellectual creatures, living, we must suppose, under a moral +law, responsible for transgression, the subjects of a Providential +Government? If we suppose that, in the other planets of our solar +systems, and of other systems, there are creatures of such a kind, and +under such conditions as these, how far will the religious opinions +which we had previously entertained be disturbed or modified? Will any +new difficulty be introduced into our views of the government of the +world by such a supposition? + +2. I have spoken of man as an Intellectual Creature; meaning thereby +that he has a Mind;--powers of thought, by which he can contemplate the +relations and properties of things in a general and abstract form; and +among other relations, moral relations, the distinction of _right_ and +_wrong_ in his actions. Those powers of thought lead him to think of a +Creator and Ordainer of all things; and his perception of right and +wrong leads him to regard this Creator as also the Governor and Judge of +his creatures. The operation of his mind directs him to believe in a +Supreme Mind: his moral nature directs him to believe that the course of +human affairs, and the condition of men, both as individuals and as +bodies, is determined by the providential government of God. + +3. With regard to the bearing of a merely _intellectual_ nature on such +questions, it does not appear that any considerable difficulty would be +_at once_ occasioned in our religious views, by supposing such a nature +to belong to other creatures, the inhabitants of other planets, as well +as to man. The existence of our own minds directs us, as I have said, to +a Supreme Mind; and the nature of Mind is conceived to be, in all its +manifestations, so much the same, that we can conceive minds to be +multiplied indefinitely, without fear of confusion, interference, or +exhaustion. There may be, in Jupiter, creatures endowed with an +intellect which enables them to discover and demonstrate the relations +of space; and if so, they cannot have discovered and demonstrated +anything of that kind as true, which is not true for us also: their +Geometry must coincide with ours, as far as each goes:--thus showing how +absurdly, as Plato long ago observed, we give to the science which deals +with the relations of space, a name (_geometry_), borrowed from the art +of measuring the earth. The earth with its properties is no more the +special basis of geometry, than are Jupiter or Saturn, or, so far as we +can judge, Sirius or Arcturus and their systems, with their properties. +Wherever pure intellect is, we are compelled to conceive that, when +employed upon the same objects, its results and conclusions are the +same. If there be intelligent inhabitants of the Moon, they may, like +us, have employed their intelligence in reasoning upon the properties of +lines and angles and triangles; and must, so far as they have gone, have +arrived, in their thoughts, at the same properties of lines and angles +and triangles, at which we have arrived. They must, like us, have had to +distinguish between right angles and oblique angles. They may have come +to know, as some of the inhabitants of the earth came to know, four +thousand years ago, that, in a right-angled triangle, the square on the +larger side is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides. +We can conceive occurrences which would give us evidence that the Moon, +as well as the Earth, contains geometers. If we were to see, on the face +of the full moon, a figure gradually becoming visible, representing a +right-angled triangle with a square constructed on each of its three +sides as a base; we should regard it as the work of intelligent +creatures there, who might be thus making a signal to the inhabitants of +the earth, that they possessed such knowledge, and were desirous of +making known to their nearest neighbors in the solar system, their +existence and their speculations. In such an event, curious and striking +as it would be, we should see nothing but what we could understand and +accept, without unsettling our belief in the Supreme and Divine +Intelligence. On the contrary, we could hardly fail to receive such a +manifestation as a fresh evidence that the Divine Mind had imparted to +the inhabitants of the Moon, as he has to us, a power of apprehending, +in a very general and abstract form, the relations of that space in +which he performs his works. We should judge, that having been led so +far in their speculations, they must, in all probability, have been led +also to a conception of the Universe, as the field of action of a +universal and Divine Mind; that having thus become geometers, they must +have ascended to the Idea of a God who works by geometry. + +4. But yet, by such a supposition, on further consideration, we find +ourselves introduced to views entirely different from those to which we +are led by the supposition of mere animal life, existing in other worlds +than the earth. For, not to dwell here upon any speculations as to how +far the operations of our minds may resemble the operations of the +Divine Mind;--a subject which we shall hereafter endeavor to +discuss;--we know that the advance to such truths as those of geometry +has been, among the inhabitants of the earth, gradual and progressive. +Though the human mind have had the same powers and faculties, from the +beginning of the existence of the race up to the present time, (as we +cannot but suppose,) the results of the exercise of these powers and +faculties have been very different in different ages; and have gradually +grown up, from small beginnings, to the vast and complex body of +knowledge concerning the scheme and relations of the Universe, which is +at present accessible to the minds of human speculators. It is, as we +have said, probably about four thousand years, since the first steps in +such knowledge were made. Geometry is said to have had its origin in +Egypt; but it assumed its abstract and speculative character first among +the Greeks. Pythagoras is related to have been the first who saw, in the +clear light of demonstration, the property of the right-angled triangle, +of which we have spoken. The Greeks, from the time of Socrates, +stimulated especially by Plato, pursued, with wonderful success, the +investigation of this kind of truths. They saw that such truths had +their application in the heavens, far more extensively than on the +earth. They were enabled, by such speculations, to unravel, in a great +degree, the scheme of the universe, before so seemingly entangled and +perplexed. They determined, to a very considerable extent, the relative +motions of the planets and of the stars. And in modern times, after a +long interval, in which such knowledge was nearly stationary, the +progress again began; and further advances were successively made in +man's knowledge of the scheme and structure of the visible heavens; till +at length the intellect of man was led to those views of the extent of +the Universe and the nature of the stars, which are the basis of the +discussions in which we are now engaged. And thus man, having probably +been, in the earliest ages of the existence of the species, entirely +ignorant of abstract truth, and of the relations which, by the knowledge +of such truth, we can trace in nature, (as the barbarous tribes which +occupy the greater part of the earth's surface still are;) has, by a +long series of progressive steps, come into the possession of knowledge, +which we cannot regard without wonder and admiration; and which seems to +elevate him in no inconsiderable degree, towards a community of thought +with that Divine Mind, into the nature and scheme of whose works he is +thus permitted to penetrate. + +5. Now the knowledge which man is capable, by the nature of his mental +faculties, of acquiring, being thus blank and rudimentary at first, and +only proceeding gradually, by the steps of a progress, numerous, slow, +and often long interrupted, to that stage in which it is the basis of +our present speculations; the view which we have just taken, of the +nature of Intellect, as a faculty always of the same kind, always +uniform in its operations, always consistent in its results, appears to +require reconsideration; and especially with reference to the +application which we made of that view, to the intelligent inhabitants +of other planets and other worlds, if such inhabitants there be. For if +we suppose that there are, in the Moon, or in Jupiter, creatures +possessing intellectual faculties of the same kind as those of man; +capable of apprehending the same abstract and general truths; able, like +man, to attain to a knowledge of the scheme of the Universe; yet this +supposition merely gives the capacity and the ability; and does not +include any security, or even high probability, as it would seem, of the +exercise of such capacity, or of the successful application of such +ability. Even if the surface of the Moon be inhabited by creatures as +intelligent as men, why must we suppose that they know anything more of +the geometry and astronomy, than the great bulk of the less cultured +inhabitants of the earth, who occupy, really, a space far larger than +the surface of the Moon; and, all intelligent though they be, and in the +full possession of mental faculties, are yet, on the subjects of +geometry and astronomy, entirely ignorant;--their minds, as to such a +knowledge, a blank? It does not follow, then, that even if there be such +inhabitants in the Moon, or in the Planets, they have any sympathy with +us, or any community of knowledge on the subjects of which we are now +speaking. The surface of the Moon, or of Jupiter, or of Saturn, even if +well peopled, may be peopled only with tribes as barbarous and ignorant +as Tartars, or Esquimaux, or Australians; and therefore, by making such +a supposition, we do little, even hypothetically, to extend the dominion +of that intelligence, by means of which all intelligent beings have some +community of thought with each other, and some suggestion of the working +of the Divine and Universal Mind. + +6. But, in fact, the view which we have given of the mode of existence +of the human species upon the earth, as being a progressive existence, +even in the development of the intellectual powers and their results, +necessarily fastens down our thoughts and our speculations to the earth, +and makes us feel how visionary and gratuitous it is to assume any +similar kind of existence in any region occupied by other beings than +man. As we have said, we have no insuperable difficulty in conceiving +other parts of the Universe to be tenanted by animals. Animal life +implies no progress in the species. Such as they are in one century, +such are they in another. The conditions of their sustentation and +generation being given, which no difference of physical circumstances +can render incredible, the race may, so far as we can see, go on +forever. But a race which makes a progress in the development of its +faculties cannot thus, or at least cannot with the same ease, be +conceived as existing through all time, and under all circumstances. +Progress implies, or at least suggests, a beginning and an end. If the +mere existence of a race imply a sustaining and preserving power in the +Creator, the progress of a race implies a guiding and impelling power; a +Governor and Director, as well as a Creator and Preserver. And progress, +not merely in material conditions, not merely in the exercise of bodily +faculties, but in the exercise of mental faculties, in the intellectual +condition of a portion of the species, still more implies a special +position and character of the race, which cannot, without great license +of hypothesis, be extended to other races; and which, if so extended, +becomes unmeaning, from the impossibility of our knowing what is +progress in any other species;--from what and towards what it tends. The +intellectual progress of the human species has been a progress in the +use of thought, and in the knowledge which such use procures; it has +been a progress from mere matter to mind; from the impressions of sense +to ideas; from what in knowledge is casual, partial, temporary, to what +is necessary, universal, and eternal. We can conceive no progress, of +the nature of this, which is not identical with this; nothing like it, +which is not the same. And, therefore, if we will people other planets +with creatures, intelligent as man is intelligent, we must not only give +to them the intelligence, but the intellectual history of the human +species. They must have had their minds unfolded by steps similar to +those by which the human mind has been unfolded; or at least, differing +from them only as the intellectual history of one nation of the earth +differs from that of another. They must have had their Pythagoras, their +Plato, their Kepler, their Galileo, their Newton, if they know what we +know. And thus, in order to conceive, on the Moon or on Jupiter, a race +of beings intelligent like man, we must conceive, there, colonies of +men, with histories resembling more or less the histories of human +colonies; and indeed resembling the history of those nations whose +knowledge we inherit, far more closely than the history of any other +terrestrial nation resembles that part of terrestrial history. If we do +this, we exercise an act of invention and imagination which may be as +coherent as a fairy tale, but which, without further proof, must be as +purely imaginary and arbitrary. But if we do not do this, we cannot +conceive that those regions are occupied at all by intelligent beings. +Intelligence, as we see in the human race, in order to have those +characters which concern our argument, implies a history of intellectual +development; and to assume arbitrarily a history of intellectual +development for the inhabitants of a remote planet, as a ground of +reasoning either for or against Religion, is a proceeding which we can +hardly be expected either to assent to or to refute. If we are to form +any opinions with regard to the condition of such bodies, and to trace +any bearing of such opinions upon our religious views, we must proceed +upon some ground which has more of reality than such a gratuitous +assumption. + +7. Thus the condition of man upon the earth, as a condition of +intellectual progress, implies such a special guidance and government +exercised over the race by the Author of his being, as produces +progress; and we have not, so far as we yet perceive, any reason for +supposing that He exercises a like guidance and government over any of +the other bodies with which the researches of astronomers have made us +acquainted. The earth and its inhabitants are under the care of God in a +special manner; and we are utterly destitute of any reason for believing +that other planets and other systems are under the care of God in the +same manner. If we regarded merely the existence of unprogressive races +of animals upon our globe, we might easily suppose that other globes +also are similarly tenanted; and we might infer, that the Creator and +Upholder of animal life was active on those globes, in the same manner +as upon ours. But when we come to a progressive creature, whose +condition implies a beginning, and therefore suggests an end, we form a +peculiar judgment with respect to God's care of that creature, which we +have not as yet seen the slightest grounds to extend to other possible +fields of existence, where we discern no indication of progress, of +beginning, or of end. So far as we can judge, God is mindful of man, and +has launched and guided his course in a certain path which makes his lot +and state different from that of all other creatures. + +8. Now when we have arrived at this result, we have, I conceive, reached +one of the points at which the difficulties which astronomical discovery +puts in the way of religious conviction begin to appear. The Earth and +its human inhabitants are, as far as we yet know, in an especial manner +the subjects of God's care and government, for the race is progressive. +Now can this be? Is it not difficult to believe that it is so? The +earth, so small a speck, only one among so many, so many thousands, so +many millions of other bodies, all, probably, of the same nature with +itself, wherefore should it draw to it the special regards of the +Creator of all, and occupy his care in an especial manner? The teaching +of the history of the human race, as intellectually progressive, agrees +with the teaching of Religion, in impressing upon us that God is mindful +of man; that he does regard him; but still, there naturally arises in +our minds a feeling of perplexity and bewilderment, which expresses +itself in the words already so often quoted, What is man, that this +should be so? Can it be true that this province is thus singled out for +a special and peculiar administration by the Lord of the Universal +Empire? + +9. Before I make any attempt to answer these questions, I must pursue +the difficulty somewhat further, and look at it in other forms. As I +have said, the history of Man has been, in certain nations, a history of +intellectual progress, from the earliest times up to our own day. But +intellectual progress has been, as I have also said, in a great measure +confined to certain nations thus especially favored. The greater part of +the earth's inhabitants have shared very scantily in that wealth of +knowledge to which the brightest and happiest intellects among men have +thus been led. But though the bulk of mankind have thus had little share +in the grand treasures of science which are open to the race, their life +has still been very different from that of other animals. Many nations, +though they may not have been conspicuous in the history of intellectual +progress, have yet not been without their place in progress of other +kinds--in arts, in arms, and, above all, in morals--in the recognition +of the distinction of right and wrong in human actions, and in the +practical application of this distinction. Such a progress as this has +been far more extensively aimed at, than a progress in abstract and +general knowledge; and, we may venture to say, has been, in many nations +and in a very great measure, really effected. No doubt the imperfection +of this progress, and the constant recurrence of events which appear to +counteract and reverse it, are so obvious and so common as to fill with +grief and indignation the minds of those who regard such a progress as +the great business of the human race; but yet still, looking at the +whole history of the human race, the progress is visible; and even the +grief and the indignation of which we have spoken are a part of its +evidences. There has been, upon the whole, a moral government of the +human race. The moral law, the distinction of right and wrong, has been +established in every nation; and penalties have been established for +wrong-doing. The notion of right and wrong has been extended, from mere +outward acts, to the springs of action, to affection, desire, and will. +The course of human affairs has generally been such, that the just, the +truthful, the kind, the chaste, the orderly portion of mankind have been +happier than the violent and wicked. External wrong has been commonly +punished by the act of human society. Internal sins, impure and +dishonest designs, falsehood, cruelty, have very often led to their own +punishment, by their effect upon the guilty mind itself. We do not say +that the moral government which has prevailed among men has been such, +that we can consider it complete and final in its visible form. We see +that the aspect of things is much the contrary; and we think we see +reasons why it may be expected to be so. But still, there has existed +upon earth a moral government of the human race, exercised, as we must +needs hold, by the Creator of man; partly through the direct operation +of man's faculties, affections, and emotions; and partly through the +authorities which, in all ages and nations, the nature of man has led +him to establish. Now this moral progress and moral government of the +human race is one of the leading facts on which Natural Religion is +founded. We are thus led to regard God as the Moral Governor of man; not +only his Creator and Preserver, but his Lawgiver and his Judge. And the +grounds on which we entertain this belief are peculiarly the human +faculties of man, and their operation in history and in society. The +belief is derived from the whole complex nature of man--the working of +his Affections, Desires, Convictions, Reason, Conscience, and whatever +else enters into the production of human action and its consequences. +God is seen to be the Moral Governor of man by evidence which is +especially derived from the character of Man, and which we could not +attempt to apply to any other creature than man without making our words +altogether unmeaning. But would it not be too bold an assumption to +speak of the Conscience of an inhabitant of Jupiter? Would it not be a +rash philosophy to assume the operation of Remorse or Self-approval on +the planet, in order that we may extend to it the moral government of +God? Except we can point out something more solid than this to reason +from, on such subjects, there is no use in our attempting to reason at +all. Our doctrines must be mere results of invention and imagination. +Here then, again, we are brought to the conviction that God is, so far +as we yet see, in an especial and peculiar manner, the Governor of the +earth and of its human inhabitants, in such a way that the like +government cannot be conceived to be extended to other planets, and +other systems, without arbitrary and fanciful assumptions; assumptions +either of unintelligible differences with incomprehensible results, or +of beings in all respects human, inhabiting the most remote regions of +the universe. And here, again, therefore, we are led to the same +difficulty which we have already encountered: Can the earth, a small +globe among so many millions, have been selected as the scene of this +especially Divine Government? + +10. That when we attempt to extend our sympathies to the inhabitants of +other planets and other worlds, and to regard them as living, like us, +under a moral government, we are driven to suppose them to be, in all +essential respects, human beings like ourselves, we have proof, in all +the attempts which have been made, with whatever license of hypothesis +and fancy, to present to us descriptions and representations of the +inhabitants of other parts of the universe. Such representations, though +purposely made as unlike human beings as the imagination of man can +frame them, still are merely combinations, slightly varied, of the +elements of human being; and thus show us that not only our reason, but +even our imagination, cannot conceive creatures subjected to the same +government to which man is subjected, without conceiving them as being +men of one kind or other. A mere animal life, with no interest but +animal enjoyment, we may conceive as assuming forms different from those +which appear in existing animal races; though even here, there are, as +we shall hereafter attempt to show, certain general principles which run +through all animal life. But when in addition to mere animal impulses, +we assume or suppose moral and intellectual interests, we conceive them +as the moral and intellectual interests of man. Truth and falsehood, +right and wrong, law and transgression, happiness and misery, reward and +punishment, are the necessary elements of all that can interest us--of +all that we can call _Government_. To transfer these to Jupiter or to +Sirius, is merely to imagine those bodies to be a sort of island of +Formosa, or new Atlantis, or Utopia, or Platonic Polity, or something of +the like kind. The boldest and most resolute attempts to devise some +life different from human life, have not produced anything more +different than romance-writers and political theorists have devised _as_ +a form of human life. And this being so, there is no more wisdom or +philosophy in believing such assemblages of beings to exist in Jupiter +or Sirius, without evidence, than in believing them to exist in the +island of Formosa, with the like absence of evidence. + +11. Any examination of what has been written on this subject would show +that, in speculating about moral and intellectual beings in other +regions of the universe, we merely make them to be men in another place. +With regard to the plants and animals of other planets, fancy has freer +play; but man cannot conceive any moral creature who is not man. Thus +Fontenelle, in his _Dialogues on the Plurality of Worlds_, makes the +inhabitants of Venus possess, in an exaggerated degree, the +characteristics of the men of the warm climates of the earth. They are +like the Moors of Grenada; or rather, the Moors of Grenada would be to +them as cold as Greenlanders and Laplanders to us. And the inhabitants +of Mercury have so much vivacity, that they would pass with us for +insane. "Enfin c'est dans Mercure que sont les Petites-Maisons de +l'Univers." The inhabitants of Jupiter and Saturn are immensely slow and +phlegmatic. And though he and other writers attempt to make these +inhabitants of remote regions in some respects superior to man, telling +us that instead of only five senses, they may have six, or ten, or a +hundred, still these are mere words which convey no meaning; and the +great astronomer Bessel had reason to say, that those who imagined +inhabitants in the Moon and Planets, supposed them, in spite of all +their protestations, as like to men as one egg to another.[1] + +12. But there is one step more, which we still have to make, in order to +bring out this difficulty in its full force. As we have said, the moral +law has been, to a certain extent, established, developed, and enforced +among men. But, as I have also said, looking carefully at the law, and +at the degree of man's obedience to it, and at the operation of the +sanctions by which it is supported, we cannot help seeing, that man's +knowledge of the law is imperfect, his conviction of its authority +feeble, his transgressions habitual, their punishment and consequences +obscure. When, therefore, we regard God, as the Lawgiver and Judge of +man, it will not appear strange to us, that he should have taken some +mode of promulgating his Law, and announcing his Judgments, in addition +to that ordinary operation of the faculties of man, of which we have +spoken. Revealed Religion teaches us that he has done so: that from the +first placing of the race of man upon the earth, it was his purpose to +do so: that by his dealing with the race of man in the earlier times, +and at various intervals, he made preparation for the mission of a +special Messenger, whom, in the fulness of time, he sent upon the earth +in the form of a man; and who both taught men the Law of God in a purer +and clearer form than any in which it had yet been given; and revealed +His purpose, of rewards for obedience, and punishments for disobedience, +to be executed in a state of being to which this human life is only an +introduction; and established the means by which the spirit of man, when +alienated from God by transgression, may be again reconciled to Him. The +arrival of this especial Messenger of Holiness, Judgment, and +Redemption, forms the great event in the history of the earth, +considered in a religious view, as the abode of God's servants. It was +attended with the sufferings and cruel death of the Divine Messenger +thus sent; was preceded by prophetic announcements of his coming; and +the history of the world, for the two thousand years that have since +elapsed, has been in a great measure occupied with the consequences of +that advent. Such a proceeding shows, of course, that God has an +especial care for the race of man. The earth, thus selected as the +theatre of such a scheme of Teaching and of Redemption, cannot, in the +eyes of any one who accepts this Christian faith, be regarded as being +on a level with any other domiciles. It is the Stage of the great Drama +of God's Mercy and Man's Salvation; the Sanctuary of the Universe; the +Holy Land of Creation; the Royal Abode, for a time at least, of the +Eternal King. This being the character which has thus been conferred +upon it, how can we assent to the assertions of Astronomers, when they +tell us that it is only one among millions of similar habitations, not +distinguishable from them, except that it is smaller than most of them +that we can measure; confused and rude in its materials like them? Or if +we believe the Astronomers, will not such a belief lead us to doubt the +truth of the great scheme of Christianity, which thus makes the earth +the scene of a special dispensation. + +13. This is the form in which Chalmers has taken up the argument. This +is the difficulty which he proposes to solve; or rather, (such being as +I have said the mode in which he presents the subject,) the objection +which he proposes to refute. It is the bearing of the Astronomical +discoveries of modern times, not upon the doctrines of Natural Religion, +but upon the scheme of Christianity, which he discusses. And the +question which he supposes his opponent to propound, as an objection to +the Christian scheme, is:--How is it consistent with the dignity, the +impartiality, the comprehensiveness, the analogy of God's proceedings, +that he should make so special and pre-eminent a provision for the +salvation of the inhabitants of this Earth, where there are such myriads +of other worlds, all of which may require the like provision, and all of +which have an equal claim to their Creator's care? + +14. The answer which Chalmers gives to this objection, is one drawn, in +the first instance, from our ignorance. He urges that, when the objector +asserts that other worlds may have the like need with our own, of a +special provision for the rescue of their inhabitants from the +consequences of the transgression of God's laws, he is really making an +assertion without the slightest foundation. Not only does Science not +give us any information on such subjects, but the whole spirit of the +scientific procedure, which has led to the knowledge which we possess, +concerning other planets and other systems, is utterly opposed to our +making such assumptions, respecting other worlds, as the objection +involves. Modern Science, in proportion as she is confident when she has +good grounds of proof, however strange may be the doctrines proved, is +not only diffident, but is utterly silent, and abstains even from +guessing, when she has no grounds of proof. Chalmers takes Newton's +reasoning, as offering a special example of this mixed temper, of +courage in following the evidence, and temperance in not advancing when +there is no evidence. He puts, in opposition to this, the example of the +true philosophical temper,--a supposed rash theorist, who should make +unwarranted suppositions and assumptions, concerning matters to which +our scientific evidence does not reach;--the animals and plants, for +instance, which are to be found in the planet Jupiter. No one, he says, +would more utterly reject and condemn such speculations than Newton, +who first rightly explained the motion of Jupiter and of his attendant +satellites, about which Science _can_ pronounce her truths. And thus, +nothing can be more opposite to the real spirit of modern science, and +astronomy in particular, than arguments, such as we have stated, +professing to be drawn from science and from astronomy. Since we know +nothing about the inhabitants of Jupiter, true science requires that we +say and suppose nothing about them; still more requires that we should +not, on the ground of assumptions made with regard to them, and other +supposed groups of living creatures, reject a belief, founded on direct +and positive proofs, such as is the belief in the truths of Natural and +of Revealed Religion. + +15. To this argument of Chalmers, we may not only give our full assent, +but we may venture to suggest, in accordance with what we have already +said, that the argument, when so put, is not stated in all its +legitimate force. The assertion that the inhabitants of Jupiter have the +same need as we have, of a special dispensation for their preservation +from moral ruin, is not only as merely arbitrary an assumption, as any +assertion could be, founded on a supposed knowledge of an analogy +between the botany of Jupiter, and the botany of the earth; but it is a +great deal more so. There may be circumstances which may afford some +reason to believe that something of the nature of vegetables grows on +the surface of Jupiter; for instance, if we find that he is a solid +globe surrounded by an atmosphere, vapor, clouds, showers. But, as we +have already said, there is an immeasurable distance between the +existence of unprogressive tribes of organized creatures, plants, or +even animals, and the existence of a progressive creature, which can +pass through the conditions of receiving, discerning, disobeying, and +obeying a moral law; which can be estranged from God, and then +reconciled to him. To assume, without further proof, that there are, in +Jupiter, creatures of such a nature that these descriptions apply to +them, is a far bolder and more unphilosophical assumption, than any that +the objector could make concerning the botany of Jupiter; and therefore, +the objection thus supposed to be drawn from our supposed knowledge, is +very properly answered by an appeal to our really utter ignorance, as to +the points on which the argument rests. + +16. This appeal to our ignorance is the main feature in Chalmers' +reasonings, so far as the argument on the one side or the other has +reference to science. Chalmers, indeed, pursues the argument into other +fields of speculation. He urges, that not only we have no right to +assume that other worlds require a redemption of the same kind as that +provided for man, but that the very reverse maybe the case. Man maybe +the only transgressor; and this, the only world that needed so great a +provision for its salvation. We read in Scripture, expressions which +imply that other beings, besides man, take an interest in the salvation +of man. May not this be true of the inhabitants of other worlds, if such +inhabitants there be? These speculations he pursues to a considerable +length, with great richness of imagination, and great eloquence. But the +suppositions on which they proceed are too loosely connected with the +results of science, to make it safe for us to dwell upon them here. + +17. I conceive, as I have said, that the argument with which Chalmers +thus deals admits of answers, also drawn from modern science, which to +many persons will seem more complete than that which is thus drawn from +our ignorance. But before I proceed to bring forward these answers, +which will require several steps of explanation, I have one or two +remarks still to make. + +18. Undoubtedly they who believe firmly both that the earth has been +the scene of a Divine Plan for the benefit of man, and also that other +bodies in the universe are inhabited by creatures who may have an +interest in such a Plan, are naturally led to conjectures and +imaginations as to the nature and extent of that interest. The religious +poet, in his Night Thoughts, interrogates the inhabitants of a distant +star, whether their race too has, in its history, events resembling the +fall of man, and the redemption of man. + + Enjoy your happy realms their golden age? + And had your Eden an abstemious Eve? + Or, if your mother fell are you redeemed? + And if redeemed, is your Redeemer scorned? + +And such imaginations may be readily allowed to the preacher or the +poet, to be employed in order to impress upon man the conviction of his +privileges, his thanklessness, his inconsistency, and the like. But +every form in which such reflections can be put shows how intimately +they depend upon the nature and history of man. And when such +reflections are made the source of difficulty or objection in the way of +religious thought, and when these difficulties and objections are +represented as derived from astronomical discoveries, it cannot be +superfluous to inquire whether astronomy has really discovered any +ground for such objections. To some persons it may be more grateful to +remedy one assumption by another: the assumption of moral agents in +other worlds, by the assumption of some operation of the Divine Plan in +other worlds. But since many persons find great difficulty in conceiving +such an operation of the Divine Plan in a satisfactory way; and many +persons also think that to make such unauthorized and fanciful +assumptions with regard to the Divine Plans for the government of God's +creatures is a violation of the humility, submission of mind, and spirit +of reverence which religion requires; it may be useful if we can show +that such assumptions, with regard to the Divine Plans, are called forth +by assumptions equally gratuitous on the other side: that Astronomy no +more reveals to us extra-terrestrial moral agents, than Religion reveals +to us extra-terrestrial Plans of Divine government. Chalmers has spoken +of the _rashness_ of making assumptions on such subjects without proof; +leaving it however, to be supposed, that though astronomy does not +supply proof of intelligent inhabitants of other parts of the universe, +she yet does offer strong analogies in favor of such an opinion. But +such a procedure is more than rash: when astronomical doctrines are +presented in the form in which they have been already laid before the +reader, which is the ordinary and popular mode of apprehending them, the +analogies in favor of "other worlds," are (to say the least) greatly +exaggerated. And by taking into account what astronomy really teaches +us, and what we learn also from other sciences, I shall attempt to +reduce such "analogies" to their true value. + +14. The privileges of man, which make the difficulty in assigning him +his place in the vast scheme of the Universe, we have described as +consisting in his being an _intellectual_, _moral_, and _religious_ +creature. Perhaps the privileges implied in the last term, and their +place in our argument, may justify a word more of explanation. Religion +teaches us that there is opened to man, not only a prospect of a life in +the presence of God, after this mortal life, but also the possibility +and the duty of spending this life as in the presence of God. This is +properly the highest result and manifestation of the effect of Religion +upon man. Precisely because it is this, it is difficult to speak of this +effect without seeming to use the language of enthusiasm; and yet +again, precisely because it is so, our argument would be incomplete +without a reference to it. There is for man, a possibility and a duty of +bringing his thoughts, purposes, and affections more and more into +continual unison with the will of God. This, even Natural Religion +taught men, was the highest point at which man could aim; and Revealed +Religion has still more clearly enjoined the duty of aiming at such a +condition. The means of a progress towards such a state belong to the +Religion of the heart and mind. They include a constant purification and +elevation of the thoughts, affections, and will, wrought by habits of +religious reflection and meditation, of prayer and gratitude to God. +Without entering into further explanation, all religious persons will +agree that such a progress is, under happy influences, possible for man, +and is the highest condition to which he can attain in this life. +Whatever names may have been applied at different times to the steps of +such a progress;--the cultivation of the divine nature in us; +resignation; devotion; holiness; union with God; living in God, and with +God in us;--religious persons will not doubt that there is a reality of +internal state corresponding to these expressions; and that, to be +capable of elevation into the condition which these expressions +indicate, is one of the especial privileges of man. Man's soul, +considered especially as the subject of God's government, is often +called his _Spirit_; and that man is capable of such conformity to the +will of God, and approximation to Him, is sometimes expressed by +speaking of him as a _spiritual creature_. And though the privilege of +being, or of being capable of becoming, in this sense, a spiritual +creature, is a part of man's religious privileges; we may sometimes be +allowed to use this additional expression, in order to remind the +reader, how great those religious privileges are, and how close is the +relation between man and God, which they imply. + +15. We have given a view of the peculiar character of man's condition, +which seem to claim for him a nature and place unique and incapable of +repetition, in the scheme of the universe; and to this view astronomy, +exhibiting to us the habitation of man as only one among many similar +abodes, offers an objection. We are, therefore, now called upon, I +conceive, to proceed to exhibit the answer which a somewhat different +view of modern science suggests to this difficulty or objection. + +For this purpose, we must begin by regarding the Earth in another point +of view, different from that hitherto considered by us. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Populaere Vorlesungen ueber Wissenschaftliche Gegenstaende, p. 31. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +GEOLOGY. + + +1. Man, as I trust has been made apparent to the consciousness and +conviction of the reader, is an intelligent, moral, religious, and +spiritual creature; and we have to discuss the difficulty, or +perplexity, or objection, which arises in our minds, when we consider +such a creature as occupying an habitation, which is but one among many +globes apparently equally fitted to be the dwelling-places of living +things--a mere speck in the immensity of creation--an atom among such a +vast array of material structures--a world, as we needs must deem it, +among millions of other objects which appear to have an equal claim to +be regarded as worlds. + +2. The difficulty appears to be great, either way. Can the earth alone +be the theatre of such intelligent, moral, religious, and spiritual +action? On the other hand, can we conceive such action to go on in the +other bodies of the universe? If we take the latter alternative, we must +people other planets and other systems with men such as we are, even as +to their history. For the intellectual and moral condition of man +implies a _history_ of the species; and the view of man's condition +which religion presents, not only involves a scheme of which the history +of the human race is a part, but also asserts a peculiar reference had, +in the provisions of God, to the nature of man; and even a peculiar +relation and connection between the human and the divine nature. To +extend such suppositions to other worlds would be a proceeding so +arbitrary and fanciful, that we are led to consider whether the +alternative supposition may not be more admissible. The alternative +supposition is, that man is, in an especial and eminent manner, the +object of God's care; that his place in the creation is, not that he +merely occupies one among millions of similar domiciles provided in +boundless profusion by the Creator of the Universe, but that he is the +servant, subject, and child of God, in a way unique and peculiar; that +his being a spiritual creature, (including his other attributes in the +highest for the sake of brevity,) makes him belong to a spiritual world, +which is not to be judged of merely by analogies belonging to the +material universe. + +3. Between these two difficulties the choice is embarrassing, and the +decision must be unsatisfactory, except we can find some further ground +of judgment. But perhaps this is not hopeless. We have hitherto referred +to the evidence and analogies supplied by one science, namely, +astronomy. But there are other sciences which give us information +concerning the nature and history of the earth. From some of these, +perhaps, we may obtain some knowledge of the place of the earth in the +scheme of creation--how far it is, in its present condition, a thing +unique, or only one thing among many like it. Any science which supplies +us with evidence or information on this head, will give us aid in +forming a judgment upon the question under our consideration. To such +sciences, then, we will turn our attention. + +One science has employed itself in investigating the nature and history +of the earth by an examination of the materials of which it is +composed; namely, Geology. Let us call to mind some of the results at +which this science has arrived. + +4. A very little attention to what is going on among the materials of +which the earth's surface is composed, suffices to show us that there +are causes of change constantly and effectually at work. The earth's +surface is composed of land and water, hills and valleys, rocks and +rivers. But these features undergo change, and produce change in each +other. The mountain-rivers cut deeper and deeper into the ravines in +which they run; they break up the rocks over which they rush, use the +fragments as implements of further destruction, pile them up in sloping +mounds where the streams issue from the mountains, spread them over the +plains, fill up lakes with sediment, push into the sea great deltas. The +sea batters the cliffs and eats away the land, and again, forms banks +and islands where there had been deep water. Volcanoes pour out streams +of lava, which destroy the vegetation over which they flow, and which +again, after a series of years, are themselves clothed with vegetation. +Earthquakes throw down tracts of land beneath the sea, and elevate other +tracts from the bottom of the ocean. These agencies are everywhere +manifest; and though at a given moment, at a given spot, their effect +may seem to us almost imperceptible, too insignificant to be taken +account of, yet in a long course of years almost every place has +undergone considerable changes. Rivers have altered their courses, lakes +have become plains, coasts have been swept away or have become inland +districts, rich valleys have been ravaged by watery or fiery deluges, +the country has in some way or other assumed a new face. The present +aspect of the earth is in some degree different from what it was a few +thousand years ago. + +5. But yet, in truth, the changes of which we thus speak have not been +very considerable. The forms of countries, the lines of coasts, the +ranges of mountains, the groups of valleys, the courses of rivers, are +much the same now as they were in ancient times. The face of the earth, +since man has had any knowledge of it, may have undergone some change, +but the changeable has borne a small proportion to the permanent. +Changes have taken place, and are taking place, but they do not take +place rapidly. The ancient earth and the modern earth are, in all their +main physical features, identical; and we must go backwards through a +considerably larger interval than that which carries us back to what we +usually term _antiquity_, before we are led, by the operation of causes +now at work, to an aspect of the earth's surface very different from +that which it now presents. + +6. For instance, rivers do, no doubt, more or less alter, in the course +of years, by natural causes. The Rhine, the Rhone, the Po, the Danube, +have, certainly, during the last four thousand years, silted up their +beds in level places, expanded the deltas at their mouths, changed the +channels by which they enter the sea; and very probably, in their upper +parts, altered the forms of their waterfalls and of their shingle beds. +Yet even if we were thus to go backwards ten thousand, or twenty, or +thirty thousand years, (setting aside great and violent causes of +change, as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the like,) the general +form and course of these rivers, and of the ranges of mountains in which +they flow, would not be different from what it is now. And the same may +be said of coasts and islands, seas and bays. The present geography of +the earth may be, and from all the evidence which we have, must be, very +ancient, according to any measures of antiquity which can apply to human +affairs. + +7. But yet the further examination of the materials of the earth +carries us to a view beyond this. Though the general forms of the land +and the waters of continents and seas, were, several thousand years ago, +much the same as they now are; yet it was not always so. We have clear +evidence that large tracts which are now dry ground, were formerly the +bed of the ocean; and these, not tracts of the shore, where the varying +warfare of sea and land is still going on, but the very central parts of +great continents; the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas. For not only +are the rocks of which these great mountain-chains consist, of such +structure that they appear to have been formed as layers of sediment at +the bottom of water; but also, these layers contain vast accumulations +of shells, or impressions of shells, and other remains of marine +animals. And these appearances are not few, limited, or partial. The +existence of such marine remains, in the solid substance of continents +and mountains, is a general, predominant, and almost universal fact, in +every part of the earth. Nor is any other way of accounting for this +fact admissible, than that those materials really have, at some time, +formed bottoms of seas. The various other conjectures and hypotheses, +which were put forward on this subject, when the amount, extent, +multiplicity, and coherence of the phenomena were not yet ascertained, +and when their natural history was not yet studied, cannot now be +considered as worthy of the smallest regard. That many of our highest +hills are formed of materials raised from the depths of ocean, is a +proposition which cannot be doubted, by any one, who fairly examines the +evidence which nature offers. + +8. If we take this proposition only, we cannot immediately connect it +with our knowledge respecting the surface of the earth in its present +form. We learn that what is now land, has been sea; and we may suppose +(since it is natural to assume that the bulk of the sea has not much +changed) that what is now sea was formerly land. But, except we can +learn something of the manner in which this change took place, we cannot +make any use of our knowledge. Was the change sudden, or gradual; +abrupt, or successive; brief, or long-continuing? + +9. To these questions, the further study of the facts enables us to +return answers with great confidence. The change or changes which +produced the effects of which we have spoken--the conversion of the +bottom of the ocean into the centre of our greatest continents and +highest mountains,--were undoubtedly gradual, successive, and long +continued. We must state very briefly the grounds on which we make this +assertion. + +10. The masses which form our mountain-chains, offer evidence, as I have +said, that they were deposited as sediment at the bottom of a sea, and +then hardened. They consist of successive layers of such sediment, +making up the whole mass of the mountain. These layers are, of course, +to a certain extent, a measure of the time during which the deposition +of sediment took place. The thicker the mass of sediment, the more +numerous and varied its beds, and the longer period must we suppose to +have been requisite for its formation. Without making any attempt at +accurate or definite estimation, which would be to no purpose, it is +plain that a mass of sedimentary strata five thousand or ten thousand +feet thick, must have required, for its deposit, a long course of years, +or rather, a long course of ages. + +11. But again: on further examination it is found, that we have not +merely one series of sedimentary deposits, thus forming our mountains. +There are a number of different series of such layers or strata, to be +found in different ranges of hills, and in the same range, one series +resting upon another. These different series of strata are +distinguishable from one another by their general structure and +appearance, besides more intimate characters, of which we shall shortly +have to speak. Each such series appears to have a certain consistency of +structure within itself; the layers of which it is composed being more +or less parallel, but the successive series are not thus always +parallel, the lower ones being often highly inclined and irregular, +while the upper ones are more level and continuous: as if the lower +strata had been broken up and thrown into disorder, and then a new +series of strata had been deposited horizontally on their fragments. But +in whatever way these different sedimentary series succeeded each other, +each series must have required, as we have seen, a long period for its +formation; and to estimate the length of the interval between the two +series, we have, at the present stage of our exposition, no evidence. + +12. But the mechanical structure of the strata, the result, as it seems, +of aqueous sedimentary deposit, is not the only, nor the most important +evidence, with regard to the length of time occupied by the formation of +the rocky layers which now compose our mountains. As we have said, they +contain shells, and other remains of creatures which live in the sea. +These they contain, not in small numbers, scattered and detached, but in +vast abundance, as they are found in those parts of the ocean which is +most alive with them. There are the remains of oysters and other +shell-fish in layers, as they live at present in the seas near our +shores; of corals, in vast patches and beds, as they now occur in the +waters of the Pacific; of shoals of fishes, of many different kinds, in +immense abundance. Each of these beds of shells, of corals, and of +fishes, must have required many years, perhaps many centuries, for the +growth of the successive individuals and successive generations of which +it consists: as long a time, perhaps, as the present inhabitants of the +sea have lived therein: or many times longer, if there have been many +such successive changes. And thus, while the present condition of the +earth extends backwards to a period of vast but unknown antiquity; we +have, offered to our notice, the evidence of a series of other periods, +each of which, so far as we can judge, may have been as long or longer +than that during which the dry land has had its present form. + +13. But the most remarkable feature in the evidence is yet to come. We +have spoken in general of the oysters, and corals, and fishes, which +occur in the strata of our hills; as if they were creatures of the same +kinds which we now designate by those names. But a more exact +examination of these remains of organized beings, shows that this is not +so. The tribes of animals which are found petrified in our rocks are +almost all different, so far as our best natural historians can +determine, from those which now live in our existing seas. They are +different species; different genera. The creatures which we find thus +embedded in our mountains, are not only dead as individuals, but extinct +as species. They belonged, not only to a terrestrial period, but to an +animal creation, which is now past away. The earth is, it seems, a +domicile which has outlasted more than one race of tenants. + +14. It may seem rash and presumptuous in the natural historian to +pronounce thus peremptorily that certain forms of life are nowhere to be +found at present, even in the unfathomable and inaccessible depths of +the ocean. But even if this were so, the proposition that the earth has +changed its inhabitants, since the rocks were formed, of which our hills +consist, does not depend for its proof on this assumption. For in the +organic bodies which our strata contain, we find remains, not only of +marine animals, but of animals which inhabit the fresh waters, and the +land, and of plants. And the examination of such remains having been +pursued with great zeal, and with all the aids which natural history can +supply, the result has been, the proofs of a vast series of different +tribes of animals and plants, which have successively occupied the earth +and the seas; and of which the number, variety, multiplicity, and +strangeness, exceed, by far, everything which could have been previously +imagined. Thus Cuvier found, in the limestone strata on which Paris +stands, animals of the most curious forms, combining in the most +wonderful manner the qualities of different species of existing +quadrupeds. In another series of strata, the Lias, which runs as a band +across England from N. E. to S. W., we have the remains of lizards, or +lacertine animals, different from those which now exist, of immense size +and of extraordinary structure, some approaching to the form of fishes +(_ichthyosaurus_); others, with the neck of a serpent; others with +wings, like the fabled forms of dragons. Then beyond these, that is, +anterior to them in the series of time, we have the immense collection +of fossil plants, which occur in the Coal Strata; the shells and corals +of the Mountain Limestone; the peculiar fishes, different altogether +from existing fishes, of the Old Red Sandstone; and though, as we +descend lower and lower, the traces of organic life appear to be more +rare and more limited in kind, yet still we have, beneath these, in +slates and in beds of limestone, many fossil remains, still differing +from those which occur in the higher, and therefore, newer strata. + +15. We have no intention of instituting any definite calculation with +regard to the periods of time which this succession of forms of organic +life may have occupied. This, indeed, the boldest geological +speculators have not ventured to do. But the scientific discoveries thus +made, have a bearing upon the analogies of creation, quite as important +as the discoveries of astronomy. And therefore we may state briefly some +of the divisions of the series of terrestrial strata which have +suggested themselves to geological inquirers. At the outset of such +speculations, it was conceived that the lower rocks, composed of +granite, slate, and the like, had existed before the earth was peopled +with living things; and that these, being broken up into inclined +positions, there were deposited upon them, as the sediment of +superincumbent waters, strata more horizontal, containing organic +remains. The former were then called _Primitive_ or _Primary_, the +latter, _Secondary_ rocks. But it was soon found that this was too +sweeping and peremptory a division. Rocks which had been classed as +Primary, were found to contain traces of life; and hence, an +intermediate class of _Transition_ strata was spoken of. But this too +was soon seen to be too narrow a scheme of arrangement, to take in the +rapidly-accumulating mass of facts, organic and others, which the +geological record of the earth's history disclosed. It appeared that +among the fossil-bearing strata there might be discerned a long series +of Formations: the term _Formation_ being used to imply a collection of +successive strata, which, taking into account all the evidence, of +materials, position, relations, and organic remains, appears to have +been deposited during some one epoch or period; so as to form a natural +group, chronologically and physiologically distinct from the others. In +this way it appeared that, taking as the highest part of the Secondary +series, the beds of chalk, which, marked by characteristic fossils, run +through great tracts of Europe, with other beds, of sand and clay, which +generally accompany these; there was, below this _Cretaceous Formation_, +an _Oolitic Formation_, still more largely diffused, and still more +abundant in its peculiar organic remains. Below this, we have, in +England, the _New Red Sandstone Formation_, which, in other countries, +is accompanied by beds abundant in fossils, as the _Muschelkalk_ of +Germany. Below this again we have the _Coal Formation_, and the +_Mountain Limestone_, with their peculiar fossils. Below these, we have +the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian System, with its peculiar fishes and +other fossils. Beneath these, occur still numerous series of +distinguishable strata; which have been arranged by Sir Roderick +Murchison as the members of the _Silurian_ formation; the researches by +which it was established having been carried on, in the first place, in +South Wales, the ancient country of the Silures. Including the lower +part of this formation, and descending still lower in order, is the +_Cambrian_ formation of Professor Sedgwick. And since the races of +organic beings, as we thus descend through successive strata, seem to be +fewer and fewer in their general types, till at last they disappear; +these lower members of the geological series have been termed, according +to their succession, _Palaeozoic_, _Protozoic_, and _Hypozoic_ or +_Azoic_. The general impression on the minds of geologists has been, +that, as we descend in this long staircase of natural steps, we are +brought in view of a state of the earth in which life was scantily +manifested, so as to appear to be near its earliest stages. + +16. Each of these formations is of great thickness. Several of the +members of each formation are hundreds, many of them thousands of feet +thick. Taken altogether, they afford an astounding record of the time +during which they must have been accumulating, and during which these +successive groups of animals must have been brought into being, lived, +and continued their kinds. + +17. We must add, that over the Secondary strata there are found, in +patches, generally of more limited extent, another, and of course, newer +mass of strata, which have been termed _Tertiary Formations_. Of these, +the strata, near and under Paris, lying in a hollow of the subjacent +strata, and hence termed the _Paris Basin_, attracted prominent notice +in the first place. And these are found to contain an immense quantity +of remains of animals, which, being well preserved, and being subjected +to a careful and scientific scrutiny by the great naturalist George +Cuvier, had an eminent share in establishing in the minds of Geologists +the belief of the extinct character of fossil species, and of the +possibility of reconstructing, from such remains, the animals, different +from those which now live, which had formerly tenanted the earth. + +18. We have, in this enumeration, a series of groups of strata, each of +which, speaking in a general way, has its own population of animals and +plants, and is separated, by the peculiarities of these, from the groups +below and above it. Each group may, in a general manner, be considered +as a separate creation of animal and vegetable forms--creatures which +have lived and died, as the races now existing upon the earth live and +die; and of which the living existence may, and according to all +appearance must, have occupied ages, and series of ages, such as have +been occupied by the present living generations of the earth. This +series of creations, or of successive periods of life, is, no doubt, a +very striking and startling fact, very different from anything which the +imagination of man, in previous stages of investigation of the earth's +condition, had conceived; but still, is established by evidence so +complete, drawn from an examination and knowledge of the structures of +living things so exact and careful, as to leave no doubt whatever of the +reality of the fact, on the minds of those who have attended to the +evidence; founded, as it is, upon the analogies, offices, anatomy, and +combinations of organic structures. The progress of human knowledge on +this subject has been carried on and established by the same +alternations of bold conjectures and felicitous confirmations of +them,--of minute researches and large generalizations,--which have given +reality and solidity to the other most certain portions of human +knowledge. That the strata of the earth, as we descend from the highest +to the lowest, are distinguished in general by characteristic or organic +fossils, and that these forms of organization are different from those +which now live on the earth, are truths as clearly and indisputably +established in the minds of those who have the requisite knowledge of +geology and natural history, as that the planets revolve round the sun, +and satellites round the planets. That these epochs of creation are +something quite different from anything which we now see taking place on +the earth, no more disturbs the belief of those facts, which scientific +explorers entertain, than the seemingly obvious difference between the +nebulae which are regarded as yet unformed planetary systems, and the +solar system to which our earth belongs, disturbs the belief of +astronomers, that such nebulae, as well as our system, really exist. +Indeed we may say, as we shall hereafter see, that the fact of our earth +having passed through the series of periods of organic life which +geologists recognize, is, hitherto, incomparably better established, +than the fact that the nebulae, or any of them, are passing through a +series of changes, such as may lead to a system like ours; as some +eminent astronomers in modern times have held. In this respect, the +history of the world, and its place in the universe, are far more +clearly learnt from geology than from astronomy. + +19. But with regard to this series of Organic _Creations_, if, for the +sake of brevity, we may call them so; we may naturally ask, in what +manner, by what agencies, at what intervals, they succeeded each other +on the earth? Now, do the researches of geologists give us any +information on these points, which may be brought to bear upon our +present speculations? If we ask these questions, we receive, from +different classes of geologists, different answers. A little while ago, +most geologists held, probably the greater number still hold, that the +transitions from one of these periods of organic life to another, were +accompanied generally by seasons of violent disruption and mutation of +the surface of the earth, exceeding anything which has taken place since +the surface assumed its present general form; in the same proportion as +the changes of its organic population go beyond any such changes which +we can discern to be at present in operation. And there were found to be +changes of other kinds, which seemed to show that these epochs of +organic transition had also been epochs of mechanical violence, upon a +vast and wonderful scale. It appeared that, at some of these epochs at +least, the strata previously deposited, as if in comparative +tranquillity, had been broken, thrust up from below, or drawn or cast +downwards; so that strata which must at first have been nearly level, +were thrown into positions highly inclined, fractured, set on edge, +contorted, even inverted. Over the broken edges of these strata, thus +disturbed and fractured, were found vast accumulations of the fragments +which such rude treatment might naturally produce; these fragmentary +ruins being spread in beds comparatively level, over the bristling edges +of the subjacent rocks, as if deposited in the fluid which had +overwhelmed the previous structure; and with few or no traces of life +appearing in this mass of ruins; while, in the strata which lay over +them, and which appeared to have been the result of quieter times, new +forms of organic life made their appearance in vast abundance. Such is, +for example, the relation of the coal strata in a great part of +England; broken into innumerable basins, ridges, valleys, strips, and +shreds, lying in all positions; and then filled into a sort of level, by +the conglomerate of the magnesian limestone, and the superincumbent red +sandstone and oolites. In other cases it appeared as if there were the +means of tracing, in these dislocations, the agency of igneous stony +matter, which had been injected from below, so as to form +mountain-chains, or the cores of such; and in which the period of the +convulsion could be traced, by the strata to which the disturbance +extended; _those_ strata being supposed to have been deposited before +the eruption, which were thrust upwards by it into highly-inclined +positions; while those strata which, though near to these scenes of +mechanical violence, were still comparatively horizontal, as they had +been originally deposited, were naturally inferred to have been formed +in the waters, after the catastrophe had passed away. By such reasonings +as these, M. Elie de Beaumont has conceived that he can ascertain the +relative ages (according to the vast and loose measurements of age which +belong to this subject) of the principal ranges of mountains of the +earth's surface. + +20. Such estimations of age can, indeed, as we have intimated, be only +of the widest and loosest kind; yet they all concur in assigning very +great and gigantic periods of time, as having been occupied by the +events which have formed the earth's strata, and brought them into their +present position. For not only must there have been long ages employed, +as we have said, while the successive generations of each group of +animals lived, and died, and were entombed in the abraded fragments of +the then existing earth; but the other operations which intervened +between these apparently more tranquil processes, must also have +occupied, it would seem, long ages at each interval. The dislocation, +disruption, and contortion of the vast masses of previously existing +mountains, by which their framework was broken up, and its ruins covered +with beds of its own rubbish, many thousand feet thick, and gradually +becoming less coarse and smoother, as the higher beds were deposited +upon the lower, could hardly take place, it would seem, except in +hundreds and thousands of years. And then again, all these processes of +deposition, thus arranging loose masses of material into level beds, +must have taken place in the bottom of deep oceans; and the beds of +these oceans must have been elevated into the position of mountain +ridges which they now occupy, by some mighty operation of nature, which +must have been comparatively tranquil, since it has not much disturbed +those more level beds; and which, therefore, must have been +comparatively long continued. If we accept, as so many eminent +geologists have done, this evidence of a vast series of successive +periods of alternate violence and repose, we must assign to each such +period a duration which cannot but be immense, compared with the periods +of time with which we are commonly conversant. In the periods of +comparative quiet, such as now exist on the earth's surface, and such as +seem to be alone consistent with continued life and successive +generation, deposits at the bottom of lakes and seas take place, it +would seem, only at the rate of a few feet in a year, or perhaps, in a +century. When, therefore, we find strata, bearing evidence of such a +mode of deposit, and piled up to the amount of thousands and tens of +thousands of feet, we are naturally led to regard them as the production +of myriads of years; and to add new myriads, as often as, in the +prosecution of geological research, we are brought to new masses of +strata of the like kind; and again, to interpolate new periods of the +same order, to allow for the transition from one such group to another. + +21. Nor is there anything which need startle us, in the necessity of +assuming such vast intervals of time, when we have once brought +ourselves to deal with the question of the antiquity of the earth upon +scientific evidence alone. For if geology thus carries us far backwards +through thousands, it may be, millions of years, astronomy does not +offer the smallest argument to check this regressive supposition. On the +contrary, all the most subtle and profound investigations of astronomers +have led them to the conviction, that the motions of the earth may have +gone on, as they now go on, for an indefinite period of past time. There +is no tendency to derangement in the mechanism of the solar system, so +for as science has explored it. Minute inequalities in the movements +exist, too small to produce any perceptible effect on the condition of +the earth's surface; and even these inequalities, after growing up +through long cycles of ages, to an amount barely capable of being +detected by astronomical scrutiny, reach a maximum; and, diminishing by +the same slow degrees by which they increased, correct themselves, and +disappear. The solar system, and the earth as part of it, constitute, so +for as we can discover, a Perpetual Motion. + +22. There is therefore nothing, in what we know of the Cosmical +conditions of our globe, to contradict the Terrestrial evidence for its +vast antiquity, as the seat of organic life. If for the sake of giving +definiteness to our notions, we were to assume that the numbers which +express the antiquity of these four Periods;--the Present organic +condition of the earth; the Tertiary Period of geologists, which +preceded that; the Secondary Period, which was anterior to that; and the +Primary Period which preceded the Secondary; were on the same scale as +the numbers which express these four magnitudes:--the magnitude of the +Earth; that of the Solar System compared with the Earth; the distance +of the nearest Fixed Stars compared with the solar system; and the +distance of the most remote Nebulae compared with the nearest fixed +stars; there is, in the evidence which geological science offers, +nothing to contradict such an assumption. + +23. And as the infinite extent which we necessarily ascribe to space, +allows us to find room, without any mental difficulty, for the vast +distances which astronomy reveals, and even leaves us rather embarrassed +with the infinite extent which lies beyond our farthest explorations; so +the infinite duration which we, in like manner, necessarily ascribe to +past time, makes it easy for us, so far as our powers of intellect are +concerned, to go millions of millions of years backwards, in order to +trace the beginning of the earth's existence,--the first step of +terrestrial creation. It is as easy for the mind of man to reason +respecting a system which is billions or trillions of miles in extent, +and has endured through the like number of years, or centuries, as it is +to reason about a system (the earth, for instance,) which is forty +million feet in extent, and has endured for a hundred thousand million +of seconds, that is, a few thousand years. + +24. This statement is amply sufficient for the argument which we have to +found upon it; but before I proceed to do that, I will give another view +which has recently been adopted by some geologists, of the mode in which +the successive periods of creation, which geological research discloses +to us, have passed into one another. According to this new view, we find +no sufficient reason to believe that the history of the earth, as read +by us in the organic and mechanical phenomena of its superficial parts, +has consisted of such an alternation of periods of violence and of +repose, as we have just attempted to describe. According to these +theorists, strata have succeeded strata, one group of animals and +plants has followed another, through a season of uniform change; with no +greater paroxysm or catastrophe, it may be, than has occurred during the +time that man has been an observer of the earth. It may be asked, how is +this consistent with the phenomena which we have described;--with the +vast masses of ruin, which mark the end of one period and the beginning +of another, as is the case in passing from the coal measures of England +to the superincumbent beds;--with the highly-inclined strata of the +central masses, and the level beds of the upper formations which have +been described as marking the mountain ranges of Europe? To these +questions, a reply is furnished, we are told, by a more extensive and +careful examination of the strata. It may be, that in certain +localities, in certain districts, the transition, from the mountain +limestone and the coal, to the superjacent sandstones and oolites, is +abrupt and seemingly violent; marked by _unconformable_ positions of the +upper upon the lower strata, by beds of conglomerate, by the absence of +organic remains in certain of these beds. But if we follow these very +strata into other parts of the world, or even into other parts of this +island, we find that this abruptness and incongruity between the lower +and the higher strata disappears. Between the mountain-limestone and the +red sandstone which lies over it, certain new beds are found, which fill +up the incoherent interval; which offer the same evidence as the strata +below and above them, of having been produced tranquilly; and which do +not violently differ in position from either group. The appearance of +incoherence in the series arose from the occurrence, in the region first +examined, of a gap, which is here filled up,--a blank which is here +supplied. Hence it is inferred, that whatever of violence and extreme +disturbance is indicated by the dislocations and ruins there observed, +was local and partial only; and that, at the very time when these +fragmentary beds, void of organized beings, were forming in one place, +there were, at the same time, going on, in another part of the earth's +surface, not far removed, the processes of the life, death and imbedding +of species, as tranquilly as at any other period. And the same assertion +is made with regard to the more general fact, before described, of the +stratigraphical constitution of mountain chains. It is asserted that the +unconformable relation of the strata which compose the different parts +of those chains, is a local occurrence only; and that the same strata, +if followed into other regions, are found conformable to each other; or +are reduced to a virtually continuous scheme, by the interpolation of +other strata, which make a transition, in which no evidence of +exceptional violence appears. + +25. We shall not attempt (it is not at all necessary for us to do so) to +decide between the doctrines of the two geological schools which thus +stand in this opposition to each other. But it will be useful to our +argument to state somewhat further the opinions of this latter school on +one main point. We must explain the view which these geologists take of +the mode of succession of one group of _organized_ beings to another; by +which, as we have said, the different successive strata are +characterized. Such a phenomenon, it would at first seem, cannot be +brought within the ordinary rules of the existing state of things. The +species of plants and animals which inhabit the earth, do not change +from age to age; they are the same in modern times, as they were in the +most remote antiquity, of which we have any record. The dogs and horses, +sheep and cattle, lions and wolves, eagles and swallows, corn and vines, +oaks and cedars, which occupy the earth now, are not, we have the +strongest reasons to believe, essentially different now from what they +were in the earliest ages. At least, if one or two species have +disappeared, no new species have come into existence. We cannot conceive +a greater violation of the known laws of nature, than that such an event +as the appearance of a new species should have occurred. Even those who +hold the uniformity of the mechanical changes of the earth, and of the +rate of change, from age to age, and from one geological period to +another; must still, it would seem, allow that the zoological and +phytological changes of which geology gives her testimony, are complete +exceptions to what is now taking place. The formation of strata at the +bottom of the ocean from the ruin of existing continents, may be going +on at present. Even the elevation of the bed of the ocean in certain +places, as a process imperceptibly slow, may be in action at this +moment, as these theorists hold that it is. But still, even when the +beds thus formed are elevated into mountain chains, if that should +happen, in the course of myriads of years, (according to the supposition +it cannot be effected in a less period,) the strata of such mountain +chains will still contain only the species of such creatures as now +inhabit the waters; and we shall have, even then, no succession of +organic epochs, such as geology discovers in the existing mountains of +the earth. + +26. The answer which is made to this objection appears to me to involve +a license of assumption on the part of the _uniformitarian_ geologist, +(as such theorists have been termed,) which goes quite beyond the bounds +of natural philosophy: but I wish to state it; partly, in order to show +that the most ingenious men, stimulated by the exigencies of a theory, +which requires some hypothesis concerning the succession of species, to +make it coherent and complete, have still found it impossible to bring +the creation of species of plants and animals within the domain of +natural science; and partly, to show how easily and readily geological +theorists are led to assume periods of time, even of a higher order than +those which I have ventured to suggest. + +27. It must, however, be first stated, as a fact on which the assumption +is founded which I have to notice, that the organic groups by which +these successive strata are characterized, are not so distinct and +separate, as it was convenient, for the sake of explanation, to describe +them in the first instance. Although each body of strata is marked by +predominant groups of genera and species, yet it is not true, that all +the species of each formation disappear, when we proceed to the next. +Some species and genera endure through several successive groups of +strata; while others disappear, and new forms come into view, as we +ascend. And thus, the change from one set of organic forms to another, +as we advance in time, is made, not altogether by abrupt transitions, +but in part continuously. The uniformitarian, in the case of organic, as +in the case of mechanical change, obliterates or weakens the evidence of +sudden and catastrophic leaps, by interposing intermediate steps, which +involve, partly the phenomena of the preceding, and partly those of the +subsequent condition. As he allows no universal transition from one +deposit to a succeeding discrepant and unconformable deposit, so he +allows no abrupt and complete transition from one collection of organic +beings,--one creation, as we may call it,--to another. If creation must +needs be an act out of the region of natural science, he will have it to +be at least an act not exercised at distant intervals, and on peculiar +occasions; but constantly going on, and producing its effects, as much +at one time in the geological history of the world, as at another. + +28. And this he holds, not only with regard to the geological periods +which have preceded the existing condition of the earth, but also with +regard to the transition from those previous periods to that in which we +live. The present population of the earth is not one in which all +previous forms are extinct. The past population of the earth was not one +in which there are found no creatures still living. On the contrary, he +finds that there exists a vast mass of strata, superior to the secondary +strata, which are characterized by extinct forms, and are yet inferior +to those deposits which are now going on by the agency of obvious +causes. These masses of strata contain a population of creatures, partly +extinct species, and partly such species as are still living on our land +and in our waters. The proportion in which the old and the new species +occur in such strata, is various; and the strata are so numerous, so +rich in organic remains, so different from each other, and have been so +well explored, that they have been classified and named according to the +proportion of new and of old species which they contain. Those which +contain the largest proportion of species still living, have been termed +_Pliocene_, as containing a _greater_ number of _new_ or recent species. +Below these, are strata which are termed _Miocene_, implying a _smaller_ +number of _new_ species. Below these again, are others which have been +termed _Eocene_, as containing few new species indeed, but yet enough to +mark the _dawn_, the _Eos_, of the existing state of the organic world. +These strata are, in many places, of very considerable thickness; and +their number, their succession, and the great amount of extinct species +which they contain, shows, in a manner which cannot be questioned, (if +the evidence of geology is accepted at all,) in what a gradual manner, a +portion at least, of the existing forms of organic life have taken the +place of a different population previously existing on the surface of +the globe. + +29. And thus the uniformitarian is led to consider the facts which +geology brings to light, as indicating a slow and almost imperceptible, +but, upon the whole, constant series of changes, not only in the +position of the earth's materials, but in its animal and vegetable +population. Land becomes sea and sea becomes land; the beds of oceans +are elevated into mountain regions, carrying with them the remains of +their inhabitants; sheets of lava pour from volcanic vents and overwhelm +the seats of life; and these, again, become fields of vegetation; or, it +may be, descend to the depths of the sea, and are overgrown with groves +of coral; lakes are filled with sediment, imbedding the remains of land +animals, and form the museums of future zoologists; the deltas of mighty +rivers become the centres of continents, and are excavated as +coal-fields by men in remote ages. And yet all this time, so slow is the +change, that man is unaware such changes are going on. He knows that the +mountains of Scandinavia are rising out of the Baltic at the rate of a +few feet in a century; he knows that the fertile slope of Etna has been +growing for thousands of years by the addition of lava streams and +parasitic volcanos; he knows that the delta of the Mississippi +accumulates hundreds of miles of vegetable matter every generation; he +knows that the shores of Europe are yielding to the sea; but all these +appear to him minute items, not worth summing; infinitesimal quantities, +which he cannot integrate. And so, in truth, they are, for him. His +ephemeral existence does not allow him to form a just conception, in any +ordinary state of mind, of the effects of this constant agency of +change, working through countless thousands of years. But Time, +inexhausted and unremitting, sums the series, integrates the formula of +change; and thus passes, with sure though noiseless progress, from one +geological epoch to another. + +30. And in the meanwhile, to complete the view thus taken by the +uniformitarian of the geological history of the earth, by some constant +but inscrutable law, creative agency is perpetually at work, to +introduce, into this progressive system of things, new species of +vegetable and animal life. Organic forms, ever and ever new ones, are +brought into being, and left, visible footsteps, as it were, of the +progress which Time has made;--marks placed between the rocky leaves of +the book of creation; by which man, when his time comes, may turn back +and read the past history of his habitation. But the point for us to +remark is, the immeasurable, the inconceivable length of time, if any +length of time could be inconceivable, which is required of our +thoughts, by this new assumption of the constant production of new +species, as a law of creation. We might feel ourselves well nigh +overwhelmed, when, by looking at processes which we see producing only a +few feet of height or breadth or depth during the life of man, we are +called upon to imagine the construction of Alps and Andes,--when we have +to imagine a world made a few inches in a century. But there, at least, +we had _something_ to start from: the element of change was small, but +there _was_ an element of change: we had to expand, but we had not to +originate. But in conceiving that all the myriads of successive species, +which we find in the earth's strata, have come into being by a law which +is now operating, we have _nothing_ to start from. We have seen, and +know of, no such change; all sober and skilful naturalists reject it, as +a fact not belonging to our time. We have here to build a theory without +materials;--to sum a series of which every term, so far as we know, is +nothing;--to introduce into our scientific reasonings an assumption +contrary to all scientific knowledge. + +31. This appears to me to be the real character of the assumption of +the constant creation of new species. But, as I have said, it is not my +business here, to pronounce upon the value or truth of this assumption. +The only use which I wish to make of it is this:--If any persons, who +have adopted the geological view which I have just been explaining, +should feel any interest in the speculations here offered to their +notice, they must needs be (as I have no doubt they will be) even more +willing than other geologists, to grant to our argument a scale of time +for geological succession, corresponding in magnitude to the scale of +distances which astronomy teaches us, as those which measure the +relation of the universe to the earth. + +This being supposed to be granted, I am prepared to proceed with my +argument. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE ARGUMENT FROM GEOLOGY. + + +1. I have endeavored to explain that, according to the discoveries of +geologists, the masses of which the surface of the earth is composed, +exhibit indisputable evidence that, at different successive periods, the +land and the waters which occupy it, have been inhabited by successive +races of plants and animals; which, when taken in large groups, +according to the ascending or descending order of the strata, consist of +species different from those above and below them. Many of these groups +of species are of forms so different from any living things which now +exist, as to give to the life of those ancient periods an aspect +strangely diverse from that which life now displays, and to transfer us, +in thought, to a creation remote in its predominant forms from that +among which we live. I have shown also, that the life and successive +generations of these groups of species, and the events by which the +rocks which contain these remains have been brought into their present +situation and condition, must have occupied immense intervals of +time;--intervals so large that they deserve to be compared, in their +numerical expression, with the intervals of space which separate the +planets and stars from each other. It has been seen, also, that the best +geologists and natural historians have not been able to devise any +hypothesis to account for the successive introduction of these new +species into the earth's population; except the exercise of a series of +acts of creation, by which they have been brought into being; either in +groups at once, or in a perpetual succession of one or a few species, +which the course of long intervals of time might accumulate into groups +of species. It is true, that some speculators have held that by the +agency of natural causes, such as operate upon organic forms, one +species might be transmuted into another; external conditions of +climate, food, and the like, being supposed to conspire with internal +impulses and tendencies, so as to produce this effect. This supposition +is, however, on a more exact examination of the laws of animal life, +found to be destitute of proof; and the doctrine of the successive +creation of species remains firmly established among geologists. That +the _extinction_ of species, and of groups of species, may be accounted +for by natural causes, is a proposition much more plausible, and to a +certain extent, probable; for we have good reason to believe that, even +within the time of human history, some few species have ceased to exist +upon the earth. But whether the extinction of such vast groups of +species as the ancient strata present to our notice, can be accounted +for in this way, at least without assuming the occurrence of great +catastrophes, which must for a time, have destroyed all forms of life in +the district in which they occurred, appears to be more doubtful. The +decision of these questions, however, is not essential to our purpose. +What is important is, that immense numbers of tribes of animals have +tenanted the earth for countless ages, before the present state of +things began to be. + +2. The present state of things is that to which the existence and the +history of MAN belong; and the remark which I now have to make is, that +the existence and the history of Man are facts of an entirely different +order from any which existed in any of the previous states of the earth; +and that this history has occupied a series of years which, compared +with geological periods, may be regarded as very brief and limited. + +3. The remains of man are nowhere found in the strata which contain the +records of former states of the earth. Skeletons of vast varieties of +creatures have been disinterred from their rocky tombs; but these +cemeteries of nature supply no portion of a human skeleton. In earlier +periods of natural science, when comparative anatomy was as yet very +imperfectly understood, no doubt, many fossil bones were supposed to be +human bones. The remains of giants and of antediluvians were frequent in +museums. But a further knowledge of anatomy has made it appear that such +bones all belong to animals, of one kind or another; often, to animals +utterly different, in their form and skeleton, from man. Also some +bones, really human, have been found petrified in situations in which +petrification has gone on in recent times, and is still going on. Human +skeletons, imbedded in rocks by this process, have been found in the +island of Guadaloupe, and elsewhere. But this phenomenon is easily +distinguishable from the petrified bones of other animals, which are +found in rocks belonging to really geological periods; and does not at +all obliterate the distinction between the geological and the historical +periods. + +4. Indeed not bones only, but objects of art, produced by human +workmanship, are found fossilized and petrified by the like processes; +and these, of course, belong to the historical period. Human bones, and +human works, are found in such deposits as morasses, sand-banks, +lava-streams, mounds of volcanic ashes; and many of them may be of +unknown, and, compared with the duration of a few generations, of very +great antiquity; but such deposits are distinguishable, generally +without difficulty, from the strata in which the geologist reads the +records of former creations. It has been truly said, that the geologist +is an _Antiquary_; for, like the antiquary, he traces a past condition +of things in the remains and effects of it which still subsist; but it +has also been truly said, at the same time, that he is an antiquary _of +a new Order_; for the remains which he studies are those which +illustrate the history of the earth, not of man. The geologist's +antiquity is not that of ornaments and arms, utensils and habiliments, +walls and mounds; but of species and of genera, of seas and of +mountains. It is true, that the geologist may have to study the works of +man, in order to trace the effects of causes which produce the results +which he investigates; as when he examines the pholad-pierced pillars of +Pateoli, to prove the rise and the fall of the ground on which they +stand; or notes the anchoring-rings in the wall of some Roman edifice, +once a maritime fort, but now a ruin remote from the sea; or when he +remarks the streets in the towns of Scania, which are now below the +level of the Baltic,[1] and therefore show that the land has sunk since +these pavements were laid. But in studying such objects, the geologist +considers the hand of man as only one among many agencies. Man is to him +only one of the natural causes of change. + +5. And if, with the illustrious author to whom we have just referred,[2] +we liken the fossil remains, by which the geologist determines the age +of his strata, to the Medals and Coins in which the antiquary finds the +record of reigns and dynasties; we must still recollect that a _Coin_ +really discloses a vast body of characteristics of man, to which there +is nothing approaching in the previous condition of the world. For how +much does a Coin or Medal indicate? Property; exchange; government; a +standard of value; the arts of mining, assaying, coining, drawing, and +sculpture; language, writing, and reckoning; historical recollections, +and the wish to be remembered by future ages. All this is involved in +that small human work, a Coin. If the fossil remains of animals may (as +has been said) be termed Medals struck by Nature to record the epochs of +her history; Medals must be said to be, not merely, like fossil remains, +records of material things; they are the records of thought, purpose, +society, long continued, long improved, supplied with multiplied aids +and helps; they are the permanent results, in a minute compass, of a +vast progress, extending through all the ramifications of human life. + +6. Not a coin merely, but any, the rudest work of human art, carries us +far beyond the domain of mere animal life. There is no transition from +man to animals. No doubt, there are races of men very degraded, +barbarous, and brutish. No doubt there are kinds of animals which are +very intelligent and sagacious; and some which are exceedingly disposed +to and adapted to companionship with man. But by elevating the +intelligence of the brute, we do not make it become the intelligence of +the man. By making man barbarous, we do not make him cease to be a man. +Animals have their especial capacities, which may be carried very far, +and may approach near to human sagacity, or may even go beyond it; but +the capacity of man is of a different kind. It is a capacity, not for +becoming sagacious, but for becoming rational; or rather it is a +capacity which he has in virtue of being rational. It is a capacity of +progress. In animals, however sagacious, however well trained, the +progress in skill and knowledge is limited, and very narrowly limited. +The creature soon reaches a boundary, beyond which it cannot pass; and +even if the acquired habits be transmitted by descent to another +generation, (which happens in the case of dogs and several other +animals,) still the race soon comes to a stand in its accomplishments. +But in man, the possible progress from generation to generation, in +intelligence and knowledge, and we may also say, in power, is +indefinite; or if this be doubted, it is at least so vast, that compared +with animals, his capacity is infinite. And this capacity extends to all +races of men its characterizing efficacy: for we have good reason to +believe that there is no race of human beings who may not, by a due +course of culture, continued through generations, be brought into a +community of intelligence and power with the most intelligent and the +most powerful races. This seems to be well established, for instance, +with regard to the African negroes; so long regarded by most, by some +probably regarded still, as a race inferior to Europeans. It has been +found that they are abundantly capable of taking a share in the arts, +literature, morality and religion of European peoples. And we cannot +doubt that, in the same manner, the native Australians, or the Bushmen +of the Cape of Good Hope, have human faculties and human capacities; +however difficult it might be to unfold these, in one or two +generations, into a form of intelligence and civilization in any +considerable degree resembling our own. + +7. It is not requisite for us, and it might lead to unnecessary +difficulties, to fix upon any one attribute of man, as peculiarly +characteristic, and distinguishing him from brutes. Yet it would not be +too much to say that man is, in truth, universally and specifically +characterized by the possession of _Language_. It will not be questioned +that language, in its highest forms, is a wonderful vehicle and a +striking evidence of the intelligence of man. His bodily organs can, by +a few scarcely perceptible motions, shape the air into sounds which +express the kinds, properties, actions and relations of things, under +thousands of aspects, in forms infinitely more general and recondite +than those in which they present themselves to his senses;--and he can, +by means of these forms, aided by the use of his senses, explore the +boundless regions of space, the far recesses of past time, the order of +nature, the working of the Author of nature. This man does, by the +exercise of his Reason, and by the use of Language, a necessary +implement of his Reason for such purposes. + +8. That language, in such a stage, is a special character of man, will +not be doubted. But it may be thought, there is little resemblance +between Language in this exalted degree of perfection, and the seemingly +senseless gibberish of the most barbarous tribes. Such an opinion, +however, might easily be carried too far. All human language has in it +the elements of indefinite intellectual activity, and the germs of +indefinite development. Even the rudest kind of speech, used by savages, +denotes objects by their kinds, their attributes, their relations, with +a degree of generality derived from the intellect, not from the senses. +The generality may be very limited; the relations which the human +intellect is capable of apprehending may be imperfectly conveyed. But to +denote kinds and attributes and actions and relations _at all_, is a +beginning of generalization and abstraction;--or rather, is far more +than a beginning. It is the work of a faculty which can generalize and +abstract; and these mental processes once begun, the field of progress +which is open to them is indefinite. Undoubtedly it may happen that weak +and barbarous tribes are, for many generations, so hard pressed by +circumstances, and their faculties so entirely absorbed in providing for +the bare wants of the poorest life, that their thoughts may never travel +to anything beyond these, and their language may not be extended so as +to be applicable to any other purposes. But this is not the standard +condition of mankind. It is not, by such cases, that man, or that human +nature, is to be judged. The normal condition of man is one of an +advance beyond the mere means of subsistence, to the arts of life, and +the exercise of thought in a general form. To some extent, such an +advance has taken place in almost every region of the earth and in every +age. + +9. Perhaps we may often have a tendency to think more meanly than they +deserve, of so-called barbarous tribes, and of those whose intellectual +habits differ much from our own. We may be prone to regard ourselves as +standing at the summit of civilization; and all other nations and ages, +as not only occupying inferior positions, but positions on a slope which +descends till it sinks into the nature of brutes. And yet how little +does an examination of the history of mankind justify this view! The +different stages of civilization, and of intellectual culture, which +have prevailed among them, have had no appearance of belonging to one +single series, in which the cases differed only as higher or lower. On +the contrary, there have been many very different kinds of civilization, +accompanied by different forms of art and of thought; showing how +universally the human mind tends to such habits, and how rich it is in +the modes of manifesting its innate powers. How different have been the +forms of civilization among the Chinese, the Indians, the Egyptians, the +Babylonians, the Mexicans, the Peruvians! Yet in all, how much was +displayed of sagacity and skill, of perseverance and progress, of mental +activity and grasp, of thoughtfulness and power. Are we, in thinking of +these manifestations of human capacity, to think of them as only a stage +between us and brutes? or are we to think so, even of the stoical Red +Indians of North America, or the energetic New Zealanders, and Caffres? +And if not, why of the African Negroes, or the Australians, or the +Bushmen? We may call their Language a jargon. Very probable it would, in +its present form, be unable to express a great deal of what we are in +the habit of putting into language. But can we refuse to believe that, +with regard to matters with which they are familiar, and on occasions +where they are interested, they would be to each other intelligible and +clear? And if we suppose cases in which their affections and emotions +are strongly excited, (and affections and emotions at least we cannot +deny them,) can we not believe that they would be eloquent and +impressive? Do we not know, in fact, that almost all nations which we +call savage, are, on such occasions, eloquent in their own language? And +since this is so, must not their language, after all, be a wonderful +instrument as well as ours? Since it can convey one man's thoughts and +emotions to many, clothed in the form which they assume in his mind; +giving to things, it may be, an aspect quite different from that which +they would have if presented to their own senses; guiding their +conviction, warming their hearts, impelling their purposes;--can +language, even in such cases, be otherwise than a wonderful produce of +man's internal, of his mental, that is, of his peculiarly _human_ +faculties? And is not language, therefore, even in what we regard as its +lowest forms, an endowment which completely separates man from animals +which have no such faculty?--which cannot regard, or which cannot +convey, the impressions of the individual in any such general and +abstract form? Probably we should find, as those who have studied the +language of savages always have found, that every such language contains +a number of curious and subtle practices,--_contrivances_, we cannot +help calling them,--for marking the relations, bearings and connections +of words; contrivances quite different from those of the languages +which we think of as more perfect; but yet, in the mouths of those who +use such speech, answering their purpose with great precision. But +without going into such details, the use of any _articulate_ language +is, as the oldest Greeks spoke of it, a special and complete distinction +of man as man. + +10. It would be an obscure and useless labor, to speculate upon the +question whether animals have among themselves anything which can +properly be called _Language_. That they have anything which can be +termed Language, in the sense in which we here speak of it, as admitting +of general expressions, abstractions, address to numbers, eloquence, is +utterly at variance with any interpretation which we can put upon their +proceedings. The broad distinction of Instinct and Reason, however +obscure it may be, yet seems to be most simply described, by saying, +that animals do not apprehend their impressions under general forms, and +that man does. Resemblance, and consequent association of impressions, +may often show like generalization; but yet it is different. There is, +in man's mind, a germ of general thoughts, suggested by resemblances, +which is evolved and fixed in language; and by the aid of such an +addition to the impressions of sense, man has thousands of intellectual +pathways from object to object, from effect to cause, from fact to +inference. His impressions are projected on a sphere of thought of which +the radii can be prolonged into the farthest regions of the universe. +Animals, on the contrary, are shut up in their sphere of +sensation,--passing from one impression to another by various +associations, established by circumstances; but still, having access to +no wider intellectual region, through which lie lines of transition +purely abstract and mental. That they have their modes of communicating +their impressions and associations, their affections and emotions, we +know; but these modes of communication do not make a language; nor do +they disturb the assignment of Language as a special character of man; +nor the belief that man differs in his Kind, and we may say, using a +larger phrase, in his Order, from all other creatures. + +11. We may sometimes be led to assign much of the development of man's +peculiar powers, to the influence of external circumstances. And that +the development of those powers is so influenced, we cannot doubt; but +their development only, not their existence. We have already said that +savages, living a precarious and miserable life, occupied incessantly +with providing for their mere bodily wants, are not likely to possess +language, or any other characteristic of humanity, in any but a stunted +and imperfect form. But, that manhood is debased and degraded under such +adverse conditions, does not make man cease to be man. Even from such an +abject race, if a child be taken and brought up among the comforts and +means of development which civilized life supplies, he does not fail to +show that he possesses, perhaps in an eminent degree, the powers which +specially belong to man. The evidences of human tendencies, human +thoughts, human capacities, human affections and sympathies, appear +conspicuously, in cases in which there has been no time for external +circumstances to operate in any great degree, so as to unfold any +difference between the man and the brute; or in which the influence of +the most general of external agencies, the impressions of several of the +senses, have been intercepted. Who that sees a lively child, looking +with eager and curious eyes at every object, uttering cries that express +every variety of elementary human emotion in the most vivacious manner, +exchanging looks and gestures, and inarticulate sounds, with his nurse, +can doubt that already he possesses the germs of human feeling, thought +and knowledge? that already, before he can form or understand a single +articulate word, he has within him the materials of an infinite +exuberance of utterance, and an impulse to find the language into which +such utterance is to be moulded by the law of his human nature? And +perhaps it may have happened to others, as it has to me, to know a child +who had been both deaf, dumb, and blind, from a very early age. Yet she, +as years went on, disclosed a perpetually growing sympathy with the +other children of the family in all their actions, with which of course +she could only acquaint herself by the sense of touch. She sat, dressed, +walked, as they did; even imitated them in holding a book in her hand +when they read, and in kneeling when they prayed. No one could look at +the change which came over her sightless countenance, when a known hand +touched hers, and doubt that there was a human soul within the frame. +The human soul seemed not only to be there, but to have been fully +developed; though the means by which it could receive such +communications as generally constitute human education, were thus cut +off. And such modes of communication with her companions as had been +taught her, or as she had herself invented, well bore out the belief, +that her mind was the constant dwelling-place, not only of human +affections, but of human thoughts. So plainly does it appear that human +thought is not produced or occasioned by external circumstances only; +but has a special and indestructible germ in human nature. + +12. I have been endeavoring to illustrate the doctrine that man's nature +is different from the nature of other animals; as subsidiary to the +doctrine that the Human Epoch of the earth's history is different from +all the preceding Epochs. But in truth, this subsidiary proposition is +not by any means necessary to my main purpose. Even if barbarous and +savage tribes, even if men under unfavorable circumstances, be little +better than the brutes, still no one will doubt that the most civilized +races of mankind, that man under the most favorable circumstances, is +far, is, indeed, immeasurably elevated above the brutes. The history of +man includes not only the history of Scythians and Barbarians, +Australians and Negroes, but of ancient Greeks and of modern Europeans; +and therefore there can be no doubt that the period of the Earth's +history, which includes the history of man, is very different indeed +from any period which preceded that. To illustrate the peculiarity, the +elevation, the dignity, the wonderful endowments of man, we might refer +to the achievements, the recorded thoughts and actions, of the most +eminent among those nations;--to their arts, their poetry, their +eloquence; their philosophers, their mathematicians, their astronomers; +to the acts of virtue and devotion, of patriotism, generosity, +obedience, truthfulness, love, which took place among them;--to their +piety, their reverence for the deity, their resignation to his will, +their hope of immortality. Such characteristic traits of man as man, +(which all examples of intelligence, virtue, and religion, are,) might +serve to show that man is, in a sense quite different from other +creatures, "fearfully and wonderfully made;" but I need not go into such +details. It is sufficient for my purpose to sum up the result in the +expressions which I have already used; that man is an intellectual, +moral, religious, and spiritual being. + +13. But the existence of man upon the earth being thus an event of an +order quite different from any previous part of the earth's history, the +question occurs, how long has this state of things endured? What period +has elapsed since this creature, with these high powers and faculties, +was placed upon the earth? How far must we go backward in time, to find +the beginning of his wonderful history?--so utterly wonderful compared +with anything which had previously occurred. For as to that point, we +cannot feel any doubt. The wildest imagination cannot suggest that +corals and madrepores, oysters and sepias, fishes and lizards, may have +been rational and moral creatures; nor even those creatures which come +nearer to human organization; megatheriums and mastodons, extinct deer +and elephants. Undoubtedly the earth, till the existence of man, was a +world of mere brute creatures. How long then has it been otherwise? How +long has it been the habitation of a rational, reflective, progressive +race? Can we by any evidence, geological or other, approximate to the +beginning of the Human History? + +14. This is a large and curious question, and one on which a precise +answer may not be within our reach. But an answer not precise, an +approximation, as we have suggested, may suffice for our purpose. If we +can determine, in some measure, the order and scale of the period during +which man has occupied the earth, the determination may serve to support +the analogy which we wish to establish. + +15. The geological evidence with regard to the existence of man is +altogether negative. Previous to the deposits and changes which we can +trace as belonging obviously to the present state of the earth's +surface, and the operation of causes now existing, there is no vestige +of the existence of man, or of his works. As was long ago observed,[3] +we do not find, among the shells and bones which are so abundant in the +older strata, any weapons, medals, implements, structures, which speak +to us of the hand of man, the workman. If we look forwards ten or twenty +thousand years, and suppose the existing works of man to have been, by +that time, ruined and covered up by masses of rubbish, inundations, +morasses, lava-streams, earthquakes; still, when the future inhabitant +of the earth digs into and explores these coverings, he will discover +innumerable monuments that man existed so long ago. The materials of +many of his works, and the traces of his own mind, which he stamps upon +them, are as indestructible as the shells and bones which give language +to the oldest work. Indeed, in many cases the oldest fossil remains are +the results of objects of seemingly the most frail and perishable +material;--of the most delicate and tender animal and vegetable tissues +and filaments. That no such remains of textures and forms, moulded by +the hand of man, are anywhere found among these, must be accepted as +indisputable evidence that man did not exist, so as to be contemporary +with the plants and animals thus commemorated. According to geological +evidence, the race of man is a novelty upon the earth;--something which +has succeeded to all the great geological changes. + +16. And in this, almost all geologists are agreed. Even those who hold +that, in other ways, the course of change has been uniform;--that even +the introduction of man, as a new species of animal, is only an event of +the same kind as myriads of like events which have occurred in the +history of the earth;--still allow that the introduction of man, as a +moral being, is an event entirely different from any which had taken +place before; and that event is, geologically speaking, recent. The +changes of which we have spoken, as studied by the geologist in +connection with the works of man, the destruction of buildings on +sea-coasts by the incursions of the ocean, the removal of the shore many +miles away from ancient harbors, the overwhelming of cities by +earthquakes or volcanic eruptions; however great when compared with the +changes which take place in one or two generations; are minute and +infinitesimal, when put in comparison with the changes by which ranges +of mountains and continents have been brought into being, one after +another, each of them filled with the remains of different organic +creations. + +17. Further than this, geology does not go on this question. She has no +chronometer which can tell us when the first buildings were erected, +when man first dwelt in cities, first used implements or arms; still +less, language and reflection. Geology is compelled to give over the +question to History. The external evidences of the antiquity of the +species fail us, and we must have recourse to the internal. Nature can +tell us so little of the age of man, that we must inquire what he can +tell us himself. + +18. What man can tell us of his own age--what history can say of the +beginning of history--is necessarily very obscure and imperfect. We know +how difficult it is to trace to its origin the History of any single +Nation: how much more, the History of all Nations! We know that all such +particular histories carry us back to periods of the migrations of +tribes, confused mixtures of populations, perplexed and contradictory +genealogies of races; and as we follow these further and further +backwards, they become more and more obscure and uncertain; at least in +the histories which remain to us of most nations. Still, the obscurity +is not such as to lead us to the conviction that research is useless and +unprofitable. It is an obscurity such as naturally arises from the lapse +of time, and the complexity of the subject. The aspect of the world, +however far we go back, is still historical and human; historical and +human, in as high a degree, as it is at the present day. Men, as +described in the records of the oldest times, are of the same nature, +act with the same views, are governed by the same motives, as at +present. At all points, we see thought, purpose, law, religion, +progress. If we do not find a beginning, we find at least evidence that, +in approaching the beginning, the condition of man does not, in any way, +cease to be that of an intellectual, moral, and religious creature. + +19. There are, indeed, some histories which speak to us of the beginning +of man's existence upon earth; and one such history in particular, which +comes to us recommended by indisputable evidence of its own great +antiquity, by numerous and striking confirmations from other histories, +and from facts still current, and by its connection with that religious +view of man's condition, which appears to thoughtful men to be +absolutely requisite to give a meaning and purpose to man's faculties +and endowments. I speak, of course, of the Hebrew Scriptures. This +history professes to inform us how man was placed upon the earth; and +how, from one centre, the human family spread itself in various branches +into all parts of the world. This genealogy of the human race is +accompanied by a chronology, from which it results that the antiquity of +the human race does not exceed a few thousand years. Even if we accept +this history as true and authoritative, it would not be wise to be +rigidly tenacious of the chronology, as to its minute exactness. For, in +the first place, of three different forms in which this history appears, +the chronology is different in all the three: I mean the Hebrew, the +Samaritan, and the Septuagint versions of the Old Testament. And even if +this were not so, since this chronology is put in the form of +genealogies, of which many of the steps may very probably have a meaning +different from the simple succession of generations in a family, (as +some of them certainly have,) it would be unwise to consider ourselves +bound to the exact number of years stated, in any of the three versions, +or even in all. It makes no difference to our argument, nor to any, +purpose in which we can suppose this narrative to have a bearing, +whether we accept six thousand or ten thousand years, or even a longer +period, as the interval which has now elapsed since the creation of man +took place, and the peopling of the earth began. + +20. And, in our speculations at least, it will be well for us to take +into account the view which is given us of the antiquity of the human +race, by other histories as well as by this. A satisfactory result of +such an investigation would be attained if, looking at all these +histories, weighing their value, interpreting their expressions fairly, +discovering their sources of error, and of misrepresentation, we should +find them all converge to one point; all give a consistent and +harmonious view of the earliest stages of man's history; of the times +and places in which he first appeared as man. If all nations of men are +branches of the same family, it cannot but interest us, to find all the +family traditions tending upwards towards the same quarter; indicating a +divergence from the same point; exhibiting a recollection of the +original domicile, or of the same original family circle. + +21. To a certain extent at least, this appears to be the result of the +historical investigations which have been pursued relative to this +subject. A certain group of nations is brought before us by these +researches which, a few thousands of years ago, were possessed of arts, +and manners, and habits, and belief, which make them conspicuous, and +which we can easily believe to have been contemporaneous successors of a +common, though, it may be even then, remote stock. Such are the Jews, +Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. The histories of these nations are +connected with and confirm each other. Their languages, or most of them, +have certain affinities, which glossologists, on independent grounds, +have regarded as affinities implying an original connection. Their +chronologies, though in many respects discrepant, are not incapable of +being reduced into an harmony by very probable suppositions. Here we +have a very early view of the condition of a portion of the earth as the +habitation of man, and perhaps a suggestion of a condition earlier +still. + +22. It is true, that there are other nations also, which claim an +antiquity for their civilization equal to or greater than that which we +can ascribe to these. Such are the Indians and the Chinese. But while we +do not question that these nations were at a remote period in possession +of arts, knowledge, and regular polity, in a very eminent degree, we are +not at all called upon to assent to the immense numbers, tens of +thousands and hundreds of thousands of years, by which such nations, in +their histories, express their antiquity. For, in the first place, such +numbers are easily devised and transferred to the obscure early stages +of tradition, when the art of numeration is once become familiar. These +vast intervals, applied to series of blank genealogies, or idle fables, +gratify the popular appetite for numerical wonders, but have little +claim on critical conviction. + +23. And in the next place, we discover that not enumeration only, but a +more recondite art, had a great share in the fabrication of these +gigantic numbers of years. Some of the nations of whom we have thus +spoken, the Indians, for example, had, at an early period, possessed +themselves of a large share of astronomical knowledge. They had observed +and examined the motions of the Sun, the Moon, the Planets, and the +Stars, till they had discovered Cycles, in which, after long and +seemingly irregular wanderings in the skies, the heavenly bodies came +round again to known and regular positions. They had thus detected the +order that reigns in the seeming disorder; and had, by this means, +enabled themselves to know beforehand when certain astronomical events +would occur; certain configurations of the Planets, for instance, and +eclipses; and knowing how such events would occur in future, they were +also able to calculate how the like events had occurred in the past. +They could thus determine what eclipses and what planetary +configurations had occurred, in thousands and tens of thousands of years +of past time; and could, if they were disposed to falsify their early +histories, and to confirm the falsification by astronomical evidence, do +so with a very near approximation to astronomical truth. Such +astronomical confirmation of their assertions, so incapable in any +common apprehension of being derived from any other source than actual +observation of the fact, naturally produced a great effect upon common +minds; and still more, on those who examined the astronomical fact, +enough only to see that it was, approximately, at least, true. But in +recent times the fallacy of this evidence has been shown, and the +fabrication detected. For though the astronomical rules which they had +devised were approximately true, they were true approximately only. The +more exact researches of modern European astronomy discovered that their +cycles, though nearly exact, were not quite so. There was in them an +error which made the cycle, at every revolution of its period, when it +was applied to past ages, more and more wrong; so that the astronomical +events which they asserted to have happened, as they had calculated that +they would have happened, the better informed astronomer of our day +knows would not have happened exactly so, but in a manner differing more +and more from their statement, as the event was more and more remote. +And thus the fact which they asserted to have been observed, had not +really happened; and the confirmation, which it had been supposed to +lend to their history, disappeared. And thus, there is not, in the +asserted antiquity of Indian civilization and Indian astronomy, anything +which has a well-founded claim to disturb our belief that the nations of +the more western regions of Asia had a civilization as ancient as +theirs. And considerations of nearly the same kind may be applied to the +very remote astronomical facts which are recorded as having been +observed in the history of some others of the ancient nations above +mentioned. + +24. Still less need we be disturbed by the long series of dynasties, +each occupying a large period of years, which the Egyptians are said to +have inserted in their early history, so as to carry their origin beyond +the earliest times which I have mentioned. If they spoke of the Greek +nations as children compared with their own long-continued age, as Plato +says they did, a few thousands of years of previous existence would well +entitle them to do so. So far as such a period goes, their monuments and +their hieroglyphical inscriptions give a reality to their pretensions, +which we may very willingly grant. And even the history of the Jews +supposes that the Egyptians had attained a high point in arts, +government, knowledge, when Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, +was still leading the life of a nomad. But this supposition is not +inconsistent with the account which the Jewish Scriptures give, of the +origin of nations; especially if, as we have said, we abstain from any +rigid and narrow interpretation of the chronology of those scriptures; +as on every ground, it is prudent to do. + +25. It appears then not unreasonable to believe, that a very few +thousands, or even a few hundreds of years before the time of Abraham, +the nations of central and western Asia offer to us the oldest aspect of +the life of man upon the earth; and that in reasoning concerning the +antiquity of the human race, we may suppose that at that period, he was +in the earliest stages of his existence. Although, in truth, if we were +to accept the antiquity claimed by the Egyptians, the Indians, or the +Chinese, the nature of our argument would not be materially altered; for +ten thousand, or even twenty thousand years, bears a very small +proportion to the periods of time which geology requires for the +revolutions which she describes; and, as I have said, we have geological +evidence also, to show how brief the human period has been, when +compared with the period which preceded the existence of man. And if +this be so; if such peoples as those who have left to us the monuments +of Egypt and of Assyria, the pyramids and ancient Thebes, the walls of +Nineveh and Babylon, were the first nations which lived as nations; or +if they were separated from such only by the interval by which the +Germans of to-day are separated from the Germans of Tacitus; we may well +repeat our remark, that the history of man, in the earliest times, is as +truly a history of a wonderful, intellectual, social, political, +spiritual creature, as it is at present. We see, in the monuments of +those periods, evidences so great and so full of skill, that even now, +they amaze us, of arts, government, property, thought, the love of +beauty, the recognition of deity; evidences of memory, foresight, power. +If London or Berlin were now destroyed, overwhelmed, and, four thousand +years hence, disinterred, these cities would not afford stronger +testimony of those attributes, as existing in modern Europeans, than we +have of such qualities in the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians. The +history of man, as that of a creature pre-eminent in the creation, is +equally such, however far back we carry our researches. + +26. Nor is there anything to disturb this view, in the fact of the +existence of the uncultured and barbarous tribes which occupy, and +always have occupied, a large portion of the earth's surface. For, in +the first place, there is not, in the aspect of the fact, or in the +information which history gives us, any reason to believe that such +tribes exhibit a form of human existence, which, in the natural order of +progress, is earlier than the forms of civilized life, of which we have +spoken. The opinion that the most savage kind of human life, least +acquainted with arts, and least provided with resources, is the state of +nature out of which civilized life has everywhere gradually emerged, is +an opinion which, though at one time popular, is unsupported by proof, +and contrary to probability.[4] Savage tribes do not so grow into +civilization; their condition is, far more probably, a condition of +civilization degraded and lost, than of civilization incipient and +prospective. Add to this, that if we were to assume that this were +otherwise; if man thus originally and naturally savage, did also +naturally tend to become civilized; this _tendency_ is an endowment no +less wonderful, than those endowments which civilization exhibits. The +capacity is as extraordinary as the developed result; for the capacity +involves the result. If savage man be the germ of the most highly +civilized man, he differs from all other animal germs, as man differs +from brute. And add to this again, that in the tribes which we call +savage, and whose condition most differs, in external circumstances, +from ours, there are, after all, a vast mass of human attributes: +thought, purpose, language, family relations; generally property, law, +government, contract, arts, and knowledge, to no small extent; and in +almost every case, religion. Even uncivilized man is an intellectual, +moral, social, religious creature; nor is there, in his condition, any +reason why he may not be a spiritual creature, in the highest sense in +which the most civilized man can be so. + +27. Here then we are brought to the view which, it would seem, offers a +complete reply to the difficulty, which astronomical discoveries +appeared to place in the way of religion:--the difficulty of the opinion +that man, occupying this speck of earth, which is but as an atom in the +Universe, surrounded by millions of other globes, larger, and, to +appearance, nobler than that which he inhabits, should be the object of +the peculiar care and guardianship, of the favor and government, of the +Creator of All, in the way in which Religion teaches us that He is. For +we find that man, (the human race, from its first origin till now,) has +occupied but an atom of time, as he has occupied but an atom of +space:--that as he is surrounded by myriads of globes which may, like +this, be the habitations of living things, so he has been preceded, on +this earth, by myriads of generations of living things, not possibly or +probably only, but certainly; and yet that, comparing his history with +theirs, he has been, certainly has been fitted to be, the object of the +care and guardianship, of the favor and government, of the Master and +Governor of All, in a manner entirely different from anything which it +is possible to believe with regard to the countless generations of brute +creatures which had gone before him. If we will doubt or overlook the +difference between man and brutes, the difficulty of ascribing to man +peculiar privileges, is made as great by the revelations of geology, as +of astronomy. The scale of man's insignificance is, as we have said, of +the same order in reference to time, as to space. There is nothing +which at all goes beyond the magnitude which observation and reasoning +suggest for geological periods, in supposing that the tertiary strata +occupied, in their deposition and elevation, a period as much greater +than the period of human history, as the solar system is larger than the +earth:--that the secondary strata were as much longer than these in +their formation, as the nearest fixed star is more distant than the +sun:--that the still earlier masses, call them primary, or protozoic, or +what we will, did, in their production, extend through a period of time +as vast, compared with the secondary period, as the most distant nebula +is remoter than the nearest star. If the earth, as the habitation of +man, is a speck in the midst of an infinity of space, the earth, as the +habitation of man, is also a speck at the end of an infinity of time. If +we are as nothing in the surrounding universe, we are as nothing in the +elapsed eternity; or rather, in the elapsed organic antiquity, during +which the earth has existed and been the abode of life. If man is but +one small family in the midst of innumerable possible households, he is +also but one small family, the successor of innumerable tribes of +animals, not possible only, but actual. If the planets _may_ be the +seats of life, we know that the seas which have given birth to our +mountains _were_ the seats of life. If the stars may have hundreds of +systems of tenanted planets rolling round them, we know that the +secondary group of rocks does contain hundreds of tenanted beds, +witnessing of as many systems of organic creation. If the nebulae may be +planetary systems in the course of formation, we know that the primary +and transition rocks either show us the earth in the course of +formation, as the future seat of life, or exhibit such life as already +begun. + +28. How far that which astronomy thus asserts as possible, is +probable:--what is the value of these possibilities of life in distant +regions of the universe, we shall hereafter consider. But in what +geology asserts, the case is clear. It is no possibility, but a +certainty. No one will now doubt that shells and skeletons, trunks and +leaves, prove animal and vegetable life to have existed. Even, +therefore, if Astronomy could demonstrate all that her most fanciful +disciples assume, Geology would still have a complete right to claim an +equal hearing;--to insist upon having her analogies regarded. She would +have a right to answer the questions of Astronomy, when she says, How +can we believe this? and to have her answers accepted. + +29. Astronomy claims a sort of dignity over all other sciences, from her +_antiquity_, her _certainty_, and the _vastness_ of her discoveries. But +the antiquity of astronomy as a science had no share in such +speculations as we are discussing; and if it had had, new truths are +better than old conjectures; new discoveries must rectify old errors; +new answers must remove old difficulties. The vigorous youth of Geology +makes her fearless of the age of Astronomy. And as to the certainty of +Astronomy, it has just as little to do with these speculations. The +certainty stops, just when these speculations begin. There may, indeed, +be some danger of delusion on this subject. Men have been so long +accustomed to look upon astronomical science as the mother of +certainty, that they may confound astronomical discoveries with +cosmological conjectures; though these be slightly and illogically +connected with those. And then, as to the vastness of astronomical +discoveries,--granting that character, inasmuch as it is to a certain +degree, a matter of measurement,--we must observe, that the discoveries +of geology are no less vast: they extend through time, as those of +astronomy do through space. They carry us through millions of years, +that is, of the earth's revolutions, as those of astronomy do through +millions of the earth's diameters, or of diameters of the earth's orbit. +Geology fills the regions of duration with events, as astronomy fills +the regions of the universe with objects. She carries us backwards by +the relation of cause and effect, as astronomy carries us upwards by the +relations of geometry. As astronomy steps on from point to point of the +universe by a chain of triangles, so geology steps from epoch to epoch +of the earth's history by a chain of mechanical and organical laws. If +the one depends on the axioms of geometry, the other depends on the +axioms of causation. + +30. So far then, Geology has no need to regard Astronomy as her +superior; and least of all, when they apply themselves together to +speculations like these. But in truth, in such speculations, Geology has +an immeasurable superiority. She has the command of an implement, in +addition to all that Astronomy can use; and one, for the purpose of such +speculations, adapted far beyond any astronomical element of discovery. +She has, for one of her studies,--one of her means of dealing with her +problems,--the knowledge of Life, animal and vegetable. Vital +organization is a subject of attention which has, in modern times, been +forced upon her. It is now one of the main parts of her discipline. The +geologist must study the traces of life in every form; must learn to +decypher its faintest indications and its fullest development. On the +question, then, whether there be in this or that quarter, evidence of +life, he can speak with the confidence derived from familiar knowledge; +while the astronomer, to whom such studies are utterly foreign, because +he has no facts which bear upon them, can offer, on such questions, only +the loosest and most arbitrary conjectures; which, as we have had to +remark, have been rebuked by eminent men, as being altogether +inconsistent with the acknowledged maxims of his science. + +31. When, therefore, Geology tells us that the earth, which has been +the seat of human life for a few thousand years only, has been the seat +of animal life for myriads, it may be, millions of years, she has a +right to offer this, as an answer to any difficulty which Astronomy, or +the readers of astronomical books, may suggest, derived from the +considerations that the Earth, the seat of human life, is but one globe +of a few thousand miles in diameter, among millions of other globes, at +distances millions of times as great. + +32. Let the difficulty be put in any way the objector pleases. Is it +that it is unworthy of the greatness and majesty of God, according to +our conceptions of Him, to bestow such peculiar care on so small a part +of His creation? But we know, from geology, that He has bestowed upon +this small part of His creation, mankind, this special care;--He has +made their period, though only a moment in the ages of animal life, the +only period of intelligence, morality, religion. If then, to suppose +that He has done this, is contrary to our conceptions of His greatness +and majesty, it is plain that our conceptions are erroneous; they have +taken a wrong direction. God has not judged, as to what is worthy of +Him, as we have judged. He has found it worthy of Him to bestow upon man +His special care, though he occupies so small a portion of time; and why +not, then, although he occupies so small a portion of space? + +33. Or is the objection this; that if we suppose the earth only to be +occupied by inhabitants, all the other globes of the universe are +wasted;--turned to no purpose? Is waste of this kind considered as +unsuited to the character of the Creator? But here again, we have the +like waste, in the occupation of the earth. All its previous ages, its +seas and its continents, have been wasted upon mere brute life; often, +so far as we can see, for myriads of years, upon the lowest, the least +conscious forms of life; upon shell-fish, corals, sponges. Why then +should not the seas and continents of other planets be occupied at +present with a life no higher than this, or with no life at all? Will it +be said that, so far as material objects are occupied by life, they are +not wasted; but that they are wasted, if they are entirely barren and +blank of life? This is a very arbitrary saying. Why should the life of a +sponge, or a coral, or an oyster, be regarded as a good employment of a +spot of land and water, so as to save it from being wasted? No doubt, if +the coral or the oyster be there, there is a reason why it is so, +consistently with the attributes of God. But then, on the same ground, +we may say that if it be not there, there is a reason why it is not so. +Such a mode of regarding the parts of the universe can never give us +reasons why they should or should not be inhabited, when we have no +other grounds for knowing whether they are. If it be a sufficient +employment of a spot of rock or water that it is the seat of +organization--of organic powers; why may it not be a sufficient +employment of the same spot that it is the seat of attraction, of +cohesion, of crystalline powers? All the planets, all parts of the +universe, we have good reason to believe, are pervaded by attraction, by +forces of aggregation and atomic relation, by light and heat. Why may +not these be sufficient to prevent the space being wasted, in the eyes +of the Creator? as, during a great part of the earth's past history, and +over large portions of its present mass, they are actually held by Him +sufficient; for they are all that occupy those portions. This notion, +then, of the improbability of there being, in the universe, so vast an +amount of waste spaces, or waste bodies, as is implied in the opinion +that the earth alone is the seat of life, or of intelligence, is +confuted by the fact, that there are vast spaces, waste districts, and +especially waste times, to an extent as great as such a notion deems +improbable. The avoidance of such waste, according to our notions of +waste, is no part of the economy of creation, so far as we can discern +that economy, in its most certain exemplifications. + +34. Or will the objection be made in this way; that such a peculiar +dignity and importance given to the earth is contrary to the analogy of +creation;--that since there are so many globes, similar to the +earth,--like her, revolving round the sun, like her, revolving on her +axes, several of them, like her, accompanied by satellites; it is +reasonable to suppose that their destination and office is the same as +hers;--that since there are so many stars, each like the sun, a source +of light, and probably of heat, it is reasonable to suppose that, like +the sun, they are the centres of systems of planets, to which their +light and heat are imparted, to uphold life:--is it thought that such a +resemblance is a strong ground for believing that the planets of our +system, and of other systems, are inhabited as the earth is? If such an +astronomical analogy be insisted on, we must again have recourse to +geology, to see what such analogy is worth. And then, we are led to +reflect, that if we were to follow such analogies, we should be led to +suppose that all the successive periods of the earth's history were +occupied with life of the same order; that as the earth, in its present +condition, is the seat of an intelligent population, so must it have +been, in all former conditions. The earth, in its former conditions, was +able and fitted to support life; even the life of creatures closely +resembling man in their bodily structure. Even of monkeys, fossil +remains have been found. But yet, in those former conditions, it did not +support human life. Even those geologists who have dwelt most on the +discovery of fossil monkeys, and other animals nearest to man, have not +dreamt that there existed, before man, a race of rational, intelligent, +and progressive creatures. As we have seen, geology and history alike +refute such a fancy. The notion, then, that one period of time in the +history of the earth must resemble another, in the character of its +population, because it resembles it in physical circumstances, is +negatived by the facts which we discover in the history of the earth. +And so, the notion that one part of the universe must resemble another +in its population, because it resembles it in physical circumstances, is +negatived as a law of creation. Analogy, further examined, affords no +support to such a notion. The analogy of time, the events of which we +know, corrects all such guesses founded on a supposed analogy of space, +the furniture of which, so far as this point is concerned, we have no +sufficient means of examining. + +35. But in truth, we may go further. Not only does the analogy of +creation not point to any such entire resemblance of similar parts, as +is thus assumed, but it points in the opposite direction. Not entire +resemblance, but universal difference is what we discover; not the +repetition of exactly similar cases, but a series of cases perpetually +dissimilar, presents itself; not constancy, but change, perhaps advance; +not one permanent and pervading scheme, but preparation and completion +of successive schemes; not uniformity and a fixed type of existences, +but progression and a climax. This may be said to be the case in the +geological aspect of the world; for, without occupying ourselves with +the question, how far the monuments of animal life, which we find +preserved in the earth's strata, exhibited a gradual progression from +ruder and more imperfect forms to the types of the present terrestrial +population; from sponges and mollusks, to fish and lizards, from +cold-blooded to warm blooded animals, and so on, till we come to the +most perfect vertebrates;--a doctrine which many eminent geologists +have held, and still hold;--without discussing this question, or +assuming that the fact is so; this at least cannot be denied or doubted, +that man is incomparably the most perfect and highly-endowed creature +which ever has existed on the earth. How far previous periods of animal +existence were a necessary preparation of the earth, as the habitation +of man, or a gradual progression towards the existence of man, we need +not now inquire. But this at least we may say; that man, now that he is +here, forms a climax to all that has preceded; a term incomparably +exceeding in value all the previous parts of the series; a complex and +ornate capital to the subjacent column; a personage of vastly greater +dignity and importance than all the preceding line of the procession. +The analogy of nature, in this case at least, appears to be, that there +should be inferior, as well as superior provinces, in the universe; and +that the inferior may occupy an immensely larger portion of time than +the superior; why not then of space? The intelligent part of creation is +thrust into the compass of a few years, in the course of myriads of +ages; why not then into the compass of a few miles, in the expanse of +systems? The earth was brute and inert, compared with its present +condition, dark and chaotic, so far as the light of reason and +intelligence are concerned, for countless centuries before man was +created. Why then may not other parts of creation be still in this brute +and inert and chaotic state, while the earth is under the influence of a +higher exercise of creative power? If the earth was, for ages, a turbid +abyss of lava and of mud, why may not Mars or Saturn be so still? If the +germs of life were, gradually, and at long intervals, inserted in the +terrestrial slime, why may they not be just inserted, or not yet +inserted, in Jupiter? Or why should we assume that the condition of +those planets resembles ours, even so far as such suppositions imply? +Why may they not, some or all of them, be barren masses of stone and +metal, slag and scoriae, dust and cinders? That some of them are composed +of such materials, we have better reason to believe, than we have to +believe anything else respecting their physical constitution, as we +shall hereafter endeavor to show. If then, the earth be the sole +inhabited spot in the work of creation, the oasis in the desert of our +system, there is nothing in this contrary to the analogy of creation. +But if, in some way which perhaps we cannot discover, the earth +obtained, for accompaniments, mere chaotic and barren masses, as +conditions of coming into its present state; as it may have required, +for accompaniments, the brute and imperfect races of former animals, as +conditions of coming into its present state, as the habitation of man; +the analogy is against, and not in favor of, the belief that they too +(the other masses, the planets, &c.) are habitations. I may hereafter +dwell more fully on such speculations; but the possibility that the +planets are such rude masses, is quite as tenable, on astronomical +grounds, as the possibility that the planets resemble the earth, in +matters of which astronomy can tell us nothing. We say, therefore, that +the example of geology refutes the argument drawn from the supposed +analogy of one part of the universe with another; and suggests a strong +suspicion that the force of analogy, better known, may tend in the +opposite direction. + +36. When such possibilities are presented to the reader, he may +naturally ask, if we are thus to regard man as the climax of creation, +in space, as in time, can we point out any characters belonging to him, +which may tend to make it conceivable that the Creator should thus +distinguish him, and care for him:--should prepare his habitation if it +be so, by ages of chaotic and rudimentary life, and by accompanying +orbs of brute and barren matter. If Man be, thus, the head, the crowned +head of the creation, is he worthy to be thus elevated? Has he any +qualities which make it conceivable that, with such an array of +preparation and accompaniment, he should be placed upon the earth, his +throne? Or rather, if he be thus the chosen subject of God's care, has +he any qualities, which make it conceivable that he should be thus +selected; taken under such guardianship; admitted to such a +dispensation; graced with such favor. The question with which we began +again recurs: What is man that God should be thus mindful of him? After +the views which have been presented to us, does any answer now occur to +us? + +37. The answer which we have to give, is that which we have already +repeatedly stated. Man is an intellectual, moral, religious, and +spiritual creature. If we consider these attributes, we shall see that +they are such as to give him a special relation to God, and as we +conceive, and must conceive, God to be; and may therefore be, in God, +the occasion of special guardianship, special regard, a special +dispensation towards man. + +38. As an intellectual creature, he has not only an intelligence which +he can apply to practical uses, to minister to the needs of animal and +social life; but also an intellect by which he can speculate about the +relations of things, in their most general form; for instance, the +properties of space and time, the relations of finite and infinite. He +can discover truths, to which all things, existing in space and time, +must conform. These are conditions of existence to which the creation +conforms, that is, to which the Creator conforms; and man, capable of +seeing that such conditions are true and necessary, is capable, so far, +of understanding some of the conditions of the Creator's workmanship. +In this way, the mind of man has some community with the mind of God; +and however remote and imperfect this community may be, it must be real. +Since, then, man has thus, in his intellect, an element of community +with God, it is so far conceivable that he should be, in a special +manner, the object of God's care and favor. The human mind, with its +wonderful and perhaps illimitable powers, is something of which we can +believe God to be "mindful." + +39. Again: man is a moral creature. He recognizes, he cannot help +recognizing, a distinction of right and wrong in his actions; and in his +internal movements which lead to action. This distinction he recognizes +as the reason, the highest and ultimate reason, for doing or for not +doing. And this law of his own reason, he is, by reflection, led to +recognize as a Law of the Supreme Reason; of the Supreme Mind which has +made him what he is. The Moral Law, he owns and feels as God's Law. By +the obligation which he feels to obey this Law, he feels himself God's +subject; placed under his government; compelled to expect his judgment, +his rewards, and punishments. By being a moral creature, then, he is, in +a special manner, the subject of God; and not only we can believe that, +in this capacity, God cares for him; but we cannot believe that he _does +not_ care for him. He cares for him, so as to approve of what he does +right, and to condemn what he does wrong. And he has given him, in his +own breast, an assurance that he will do this; and thus, God cares for +man, in a peculiar and special manner. As a moral creature, we have no +difficulty in conceiving that God may think him worthy of his regard and +government. + +40. The development of man's moral nature, as we have just described it, +leads to, and involves the development of his religious nature. By +looking within himself, and seeing the Moral Law, he learns to look +upwards to God, the Author of the Law, and the Awarder of the rewards +and penalties which follow moral good and evil. But the belief of such a +dispensation carries us, or makes us long to be carried, beyond the +manifestations of this dispensation, as they appear in the ordinary +course of human life. By thinking on such things, man is led to ascribe +a wider range to the moral Government of God:--to believe in methods of +reward and punishment, which do not appear in the natural course of +events: to accept events, out of the order of nature, which announce +that God has provided such methods: to accept them, when duly +authenticated, as messages from God; and thus, when God provides the +means, to allow himself to be placed in intercourse with God. Since man +is capable of this; since, as a religious creature, this is his +tendency, his need, the craving of his heart, without which, when his +religious nature is fully unfolded, he can feel no comfort nor +satisfaction; we cannot be surprised that God should deem him a proper +object of a special fatherly care; a fit subject for a special +dispensation of his purposes, as to the consequences of human actions. +Man being this, we can believe that God is not only "mindful of him," +but "visits him." + +41. As we have said, the soul of man, regarded as the subject of God's +religious government, is especially termed his _Spirit_: the course of +human being which results from the intercourse with God, which God +permits, is a _spiritual_ existence. Man is capable, in no small degree, +of such an existence, of such an intercourse with God; and, as we are +authorized to term it, of such a life with God, and in God, even while +he continues in his present human existence. I say _authorized_, because +such expressions are used, though reverently, by the most religious +men; who are, at any rate, authority as to their own sentiments; which +are the basis of our reasoning. Whatever, then, may be the imperfection, +in this life, of such a union with God, yet since man can, when +sufficiently assisted and favored by God, enter upon such a union, we +cannot but think it most credible and most natural, that he should be +the object of God's special care and regard, even of his love and +presence. + +42. That men are, only in a comparatively small number of cases, +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual, in the degree which I +have described, does not, by any means, deprive our argument of its +force. The capacity of man is, that he may become this; and such a +capacity may well make him a special object in the eyes of Him under +whose guidance and by whose aid, such a development and elevation of his +nature is open to him. However imperfect and degraded, however +unintellectual, immoral, irreligious, and unspiritual, a great part of +mankind may be, still they all have the germs of such an elevation of +their nature; and a large portion of them make, we cannot doubt, no +small progress in this career of advancement to a spiritual condition. +And with such capacities, and such practical exercise of those +capacities, we can have no difficulty in believing, if the evidence +directs us to believe, that that part of the creation in which man has +his present appointed place, is the special field of God's care and +love; by whatever wastes of space, and multitudes of material bodies, it +may be surrounded; by whatever races it may have been previously +occupied, of brutes that perish, and that, compared with man, can hardly +be said to have lived. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Lyell, II. 420. [6th Ed.] + +[2] Cuvier. + +[3] By Bishop Berkeley. See Lyell, III. 346. + +[4] A recent popular writer, who has asserted the self-civilizing +tendency of man, has not been able, it would seem, to adduce any example +of the operation of this tendency, except a single tribe of North +American Indians, in whom it operated for a short time, and to a small +extent. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE NEBULAE + + +1. I have attempted to show that, even if we suppose the other bodies of +the universe to resemble the Earth, so far as to seem, by their +materials, forms, and motions, no less fitted than she is to be the +abodes of life; yet that, knowing what we do of man, we can believe that +the Earth is tenanted by a race who are the _special_ objects of God's +care. Even if the tendency of the analogies of creation were, to incline +us to suppose that the other planets are as well suited as our globe, to +have inhabitants, still it would require a great amount of evidence, to +make us believe that they have such inhabitants as we are; while yet +such evidence is altogether wanting. Even if we knew that the stars were +the centres of revolving systems, we should have an immense difficulty +in believing that an Earth, with such a population as ours, revolves +about any of them. If astronomy made a plurality of worlds probable, we +have strong reasonings, drawn from other subjects, to think that the +other worlds are not like ours. + +2. The admirers of astronomical triumphs may perhaps be disposed to say, +that when so much has been discovered, we may be allowed to complete the +scheme by the exercise of fancy. I have attempted to show that we are +not in such a state of ignorance, when we look at other relations of +the earth and of man, as to allow us to do this. But now we may go a +little onwards in our argument; and may ask, whether Astronomy really +does what is here claimed for her:--whether she carries us so securely +to the bounds of the visible universe, that our Fancy may take up the +task, and people the space thus explored:--whether the bodies which +Astronomy has examined, be really as fitted as our Earth, to sustain a +population of living things:--whether the most distant objects in the +universe do really seem to be systems, or the beginnings of +systems:--whether Astronomy herself may not incline in favor of the +condition of man, as being the sole creature of his kind? + +3. In making this inquiry, it will of course be understood, that I do so +with the highest admiration for the vast discoveries which Astronomy has +really made; and for the marvellous skill and invention of the great men +who have, in all ages of the world, and not least, in our time, been the +authors of such discoveries. From the time when Galileo first discovered +the system of Jupiter's satellites, to the last scrutiny of the +structure of a nebula by Lord Rosse's gigantic telescope, the history of +the telescopic exploration of the sky, has been a history of genius +felicitously employed in revealing wonders. In this history, the noble +labors of the first and the second Herschel relative to the distribution +of the fixed stars, the forms and classes of nebulae, and the phenomena +of double stars, especially bear upon our present speculations; to which +we may add, the examination of the aspect of each planet, by various +observers, as Schroeter, and of the moon by others, from Huyghens to +Maedler and Beer. The achievements which are most likely to occur to the +reader's mind are those of the Earl of Rosse; as being the latest +addition to our knowledge, and the result of the greatest instrumental +powers. By the energy and ingenuity of that eminent person, an eye is +directed to the heavens, having a pupil of six feet diameter, with the +most complete optical structure, and the power of ranging about for its +objects over a great extent of sky; and thus the quantity of light which +the eye receives from any point of the heavens is augmented, it may be, +fifty thousand times. The rising Moon is seen from the Observatory in +Ireland with the same increase of size and light, as if her solid globe, +two thousand miles in diameter, retaining all its illumination, really +rested upon the summits of the Alps, to be gazed at by the naked eye. An +object which appears to the naked eye a single star, may, by this +telescope, so far as its power of seeing is concerned, be resolved into +fifty thousand stars, each of the same brightness as the obvious star. +What seems to the unassisted vision a nebula, a patch of diluted light, +in which no distinct luminous point can be detected, may, by such an +instrument, be discriminated or resolved into a number of bright dots; +as the stippled shades of an engraving are resolved into dots by the +application of a powerful magnifying glass. Similar results of the +application of great telescopic power had of course been attained long +previously; but, as the nature of scientific research is, each step adds +something to our means of knowledge; and the last addition assumes, +includes, and augments the knowledge which we possessed before. The +discussions in which we are engaged, belong to the very boundary region +of science;--to the frontier where knowledge, at least astronomical +knowledge, ends, and ignorance begins. Such discoveries, therefore, as +those made by Lord Rosse's telescope, require our special notice here. + +4. We may begin, at what appears to us the outskirts of creation, the +Nebulae. At one time it was conceived by astronomers in general, that +these patches of diffused light, which are seen by them in such +profusion in the sky, are not luminous bodies of regular terms and +definite boundaries, apparently solid, as the stars are supposed to be; +but really, as even to good telescopes many of them seem, masses of +luminous cloud or vapor, loosely held together, as clouds and vapors +are, and not capable by any powers of vision of being resolved into +distinct visible elements. This opinion was for a time so confidentially +entertained, that there was founded upon it an hypothesis, that these +were gaseous masses, out of which suns and systems might afterwards be +formed, by the concentration of these luminous vapors into a solid +central sun, more intensely luminous; while detached portions of the +mass, flying off, and cooling down so as to be no longer self-luminous, +might revolve round the central body, as planets and satellites. This is +the _Nebular Hypothesis_, suggested by the elder Herschel, and adopted +by the great mathematician Laplace. + +5. But the result of the optical scrutiny of the nebulae by more modern +observers, especially by Lord Rosse in Ireland, and Mr. Bond in America, +has been, that many celestial objects which were regarded before as +truly nebulous, have been resolved into stars; and this resolution has +been extended to so many cases of nebulae, of such various kinds, as to +have produced a strong suspicion in the minds of astronomers that _all_ +the nebulae, however different in their appearance, may really be +resolved into stars, if they be attacked with optical powers +sufficiently great. + +6. If this were to be assumed as done, and if each of the separate +points, into which the nebulae are thus resolved, were conceived to be a +star, which looks so small only because it is so distant, and which +really is as likely to have a system of planets revolving about it, as +is a star of the first magnitude:--we should then have a view of the +immensity of the visible universe, such as I presented to the reader in +the beginning of this essay. All the distant nebulae appear as nebulae, +only because they are so distant; if truly seen, they are groups of +stars, of which each may be as important as our sun, being, like it, the +centre of a planetary system. And thus, a patch of the heavens, one +hundredth or one thousandth part of the visible breadth of our sun, may +contain in it more life, not only than exists in the solar system, but +in as many such systems as the unassisted eye can see stars in the +heavens, on the clearest winter night. + +7. This is a stupendous view of the greatness of the creation; and, to +many persons, its very majesty, derived from magnitude and number, will +make it so striking and acceptable, that, once apprehended, they will +feel as if there were a kind of irreverence in disturbing it. But if +this view be really not tenable when more closely examined, it is, after +all, not wise to connect our feelings of religious reverence with it, so +that they shall suffer a shock when we are obliged to reject it. I may +add, that we may entertain an undoubting trust that any view of the +creation which is found to be true, will also be found to supply +material for reverential contemplation. I venture to hope that we may, +by further examination, be led to a reverence of a deeper and more +solemn character than a mere wonder at the immensity of space and +number. + +8. But whatever the result may be, let us consider the evidence for this +view. It assumes that all the Nebulae are resolvable into stars, and that +they appear as nebulae only because they are more distant than the region +in which they can appear as stars. Are there any facts, any phenomena in +the heavens, which may help us to determine whether this is a probable +opinion? + +9. It is most satisfactory for us, when we can, in such inquiries, know +the thoughts which have suggested themselves to the minds of those who +have examined the phenomena with the most complete knowledge, the +greatest care, and the best advantages; and have speculated upon these +phenomena in a way both profound and unprejudiced. Some remarks of Sir +John Herschel, recommended by these precious characters, seem to me to +bear strongly upon the question which I have just had to ask:--Do all +the nebulae owe their nebulous appearance to their being too distant to +be seen as groups of distinct stars, though they really are such groups? + +10. Herschel, in the visit which he made to the Cape of Good Hope, for +the purpose of erecting to his father the most splendid monument that +son ever erected,--the completed survey of the vault of heaven,--had +full opportunity of studying a certain pair of remarkable bright spaces +of the skies, filled with a cloudy light, which lie near the southern +pole; and which, having been unavoidably noticed by the first Antarctic +voyagers, are called the _Magellanic Clouds_. When the larger of these +two clouds is examined through powerful telescopes, it presents, we are +told, a constitution of uncommon complexity: "large patches and tracts +of nebulosity in every stage of resolution, from light, irresolvable +with eighteen inches of reflecting aperture, up to perfectly separated +stars like the Milky Way, and clustering groups sufficiently insulated +and condensed to come under the designation of irregular, and in some +cases pretty rich clusters. But besides these, there are also nebulae in +abundance, both regular and irregular; globular clusters in every stage +of condensation, and objects of a nebulous character quite peculiar, and +which have no analogies in any other region of the heavens."[1] He goes +on to say, that these nebulae and clusters are far more crowded in this +space than they are in any other, even the most crowded parts, of the +nebulous heavens. This _Nubecula Major_, as it is termed, is of a round +or oval form, and its diameter is about six degrees, so that it is about +twelve times the apparent diameter of the moon. The _Nubecula Minor_ is +a smaller patch of the same kind. If we suppose the space occupied by +the various objects which the nubecula major includes, to be, in a +general way, spherical, its nearest and most remote parts must (as its +angular size proves) differ in their distance from us by little more +than a tenth part of our distance from its centre. That the two nubeculae +are thus approximately spherical spaces, is in the highest degree +probable; not only from the peculiarity of their contents, which +suggests the notion of a peculiar group of objects, collected into a +limited space; but from the barrenness, as to such objects, of the sky +in the neighborhood of these Magellanic Clouds. To suppose (the only +other possible supposition) that they are two columns of space, with +their ends turned towards us, and their lengths hundreds and thousands +of times their breadths, would be too fantastical a proceeding to be +tolerated; and would, after all, not explain the facts without further +altogether arbitrary assumptions. + +11. It appears, then, that, in these groups, there are stars of various +magnitudes, clusters of various forms, nebulae regular and irregular, +nebulous tracts and patches of peculiar character; and all so disposed, +that the most distant of them, whichever these may be, are not more than +one-tenth more distant than the nearest. If the nearest star in this +space be at nine times the distance of Sirius, the farthest nebulae, +contained in the same space, will not be at more than ten times the +distance of Sirius. Of course, the doctrine that nebulae are seen as +nebulae, merely because they are so distant, requires us to assume all +nebulae to be hundreds and thousands of times more distant than the +smallest stars. If stars of the eighth magnitude (which are hardly +visible to the naked eye) be eight times as remote as Sirius, a nebula +containing a thousand stars, which is invisible to the naked eye, must +be more than eight thousand times as remote as Sirius. And thus if, in +the whole galaxy, we reckon only the stars as far as the eighth +magnitude, and suppose all the stars of the galaxy to form a nebula, +which is visible to the spectators in a distant nebula, only as their +nebula is visible to us; we must place them at eight thousand times two +hundred thousand times the distance of the Sun; and, even so, we are +obviously vastly understating the calculation. These are the gigantic +estimates with which some astronomical speculators have been in the +habit of overwhelming the minds of their listeners; and these views have +given a kind of majesty to the aspect of the nebulae; and have led some +persons to speak of the discovery of every new streak of nebulous light +in the starry heavens, as a discovery of new worlds, and still new +worlds. But the Magellanic Clouds show us very clearly that all these +calculations are entirely baseless. In those regions of space, there +coexists, in a limited compass, and in indiscriminate position, stars, +clusters of stars, nebulae, regular and irregular, and nebulous streaks +and patches. These, then, are different kinds of things in themselves, +not merely different to us. There are such things as nebulae side by side +with stars, and with clusters of stars. Nebulous matter resolvable +occurs close to nebulous matter irresolvable. The last and widest step +by which the dimensions of the universe have been expanded in the +notions of eager speculators, is checked by a completer knowledge and a +sager spirit of speculation. Whatever inference we may draw from the +resolvability of some of the nebulae, we may not draw this +inference;--that they are more distant, and contain a larger array of +systems and of worlds, in proportion as they are difficult to resolve. + +12. But indeed, if we consider this process, of the resolution of nebulae +into luminous points, on its own ground, without looking to such facts +as I have just adduced, it will be difficult, or impossible, to assign +any reason why it should lead to such inferences as have been drawn from +it. Let us look at this matter more clearly. An astronomer, armed with a +powerful telescope, _resolves_ a nebula, discerns that a luminous cloud +is composed of shining dots:--but what are these dots? Into _what_ does +he resolve the nebula? Into _Stars_, it is commonly said. Let us not +wrangle about words. By all means let these dots be Stars, if we know +about what we are speaking: if a _Star_ merely mean a luminous dot in +the sky. But that these stars shall resemble, in their nature, stars of +the first magnitude, and that such stars shall resemble our Sun, are +surely very bold structures of assumption to build on such a basis. Some +nebulae are resolvable; are resolvable into distinct points; certainly a +very curious, probably an important discovery. We may hereafter learn +that _all_ nebulae are resolvable into distinct points: that would be a +still more curious discovery. But what would it amount to? What would be +the simple way of expressing it, without hypothesis, and without +assumption? Plainly this: that the substance of all nebulae is not +continuous, but discrete;--separable, and separate into distinct +luminous elements;--nebulae are, it would then seem, as it were, of a +curdled or granulated texture; they have run into _lumps_ of light, or +have been formed originally of such lumps. Highly curious. But what are +these lumps? How large are they? At what distances? Of what structure? +Of what use? It would seem that he must be a bold man who undertakes to +answer these questions. Certainly he must appear to ordinary thinkers to +be _very_ bold, who, in reply, says, gravely and confidently, as if he +had unquestionable authority for his teaching:--"These lumps, O man, are +Suns; they are distant from each other as far as the Dog-star is from +us; each has its system of Planets, which revolve around it; and each of +these Planets is the seat of an animal and vegetable creation. Among +these Planets, some, we do not yet know how many, are occupied by +rational and responsible creatures, like Man; and the only matter which +perplexes us, holding this belief on astronomical grounds, is, that we +do not quite see how to put our theology into its due place and form in +our system." + +13. In discussing such matters as these, where our knowledge and our +ignorance are so curiously blended together, and where it is so +difficult to make men feel that so much ignorance can lie so close to so +much knowledge;--to make them believe that they have been allowed to +discover so much, and yet are not allowed to discover more:--we may be +permitted to illustrate our meaning, by supposing a case of blended +knowledge and ignorance, of real and imaginary discovery. Suppose that +there were carried from a scientific to a more ignorant nation, +excellent maps of the world, finely engraved; the mountain-ranges shaded +in the most delicate manner, and the sheet crowded with information of +all kinds, in writing large, small, and microscopic. Suppose also, that +when these maps had been studied with the naked eye, so as to establish +a profound respect for the knowledge and skill of the author of them, +some of those who perused them should be furnished with good +microscopes, so as to carry their examination further than before. They +might then find that, in several parts, what before appeared to be +merely crooked lines, was really writing, stating, it may be, the amount +of population of a province, or the date of foundation of a town. To +exhaust all the information thus contained on the maps, might be a work +of considerable time and labor. But suppose that, when this was done, a +body of resolute microscopists should insist that the information which +the map contained was not exhausted: that they should continue peering +perseveringly at the lines which formed the shading of the mountains, +maintaining that these lines also were writing, if only it might be +deciphered; and should go on increasing, with immense labor and +ingenuity, the powers of their microscopes, in order to discover the +legend contained in these unmeaning lines. We should, perhaps, have here +an image of the employment of these astronomers, who now go on looking +in nebulae for worlds. And we may notice in passing, that several of the +arguments which are used by such astronomers, might be used, and would +be used, by our microscopists:--how improbable it was that a person so +full of knowledge, and so able to convey it, as the author of the maps +was known to be, should not have a design and purpose in every line that +he drew: what a waste of space it would be to leave any part of the +sheet blank of information; and the like. To which the reply is to us +obvious; that the design of shading the mountains was design enough; and +that the information conveyed was all that was necessary or convenient. +Nor does this illustration at all tend to show that such astronomical +scrutiny, directed intelligently, with a right selection of the points +examined, may not be highly interesting and important. If the +microscopists had examined the map with a view to determine the best way +in which mountains can be indicated by shading, they would have employed +themselves upon a question which has been the subject of multiplied and +instructive discussion in our own day. + +14. But to return to the subject of Nebulae, we may further say, with +the most complete confidence, that whether or not nebulous matter be +generally resolvable into shining dots, it cannot possibly be true that +its being, or not being so resolvable by our telescopes, depends merely +upon its smaller or greater distance from the observer. For, in the +first place, that there is matter, to the best assisted eye not +distinguishable from nebulous matter, which is not so resolvable, is +proved by several facts. The tails of Comets often resemble nebulae; so +much so that there are several known nebulae, which are, by the less +experienced explorers of the sky, perpetually mistaken for comets, till +they are proved not to be so, by their having no cometary motion. Such +is the nebula in Andromeda, which is visible to the naked eye.[2] But +the tails and nebulous appendages of comets, though they alter their +appearance very greatly, according to the power of the telescope with +which they are examined, have never been resolved into stars, or any +kind of dots; and seem, by all investigations, to be sheets or cylinders +or cones of luminous vapor, changing their form as they approach to or +recede from the sun, and perhaps by the influence of other causes. Yet +some of them approach very near the earth; all of them come within the +limits of our system. Here, then, we have (probably, at least,) nebulous +matter, which when brought close to the eye, compared with the stellar +nebulae, still appears as nebulous. + +15. Again, as another phenomenon, bearing upon the same question, we +have the Zodiacal Light. This is a faint cone of light[3] which, at +certain seasons, may be seen extending from the horizon obliquely +upwards, and following the course of the ecliptic, or rather, of the +sun's equator. It appears to be a lens-shaped envelope of the sun, +extending beyond the orbits of Mercury and Venus, and nearly attaining +that of the earth; and in Sir John Herschel's view, may be regarded as +placing the sun in the list of nebulous stars. No one has ever thought +that this nebulous appearance was resolvable into luminous points; but +if it were, probably not even the most sanguine of speculators on the +multitude of suns would call these points _suns_. + +16. But indeed the nebulae themselves, and especially the most remote of +the nebulae, or at least those which most especially require the most +powerful telescopes, offer far more decisive proofs that their +resolvability or non-resolvability,--their apparent constitution as +diffused and vaporous masses,--does not depend upon their distance. A +remarkable fact in the irregular, and in some of the regular nebulae[4] +is, that they consist of long patches and streaks, which stretch out in +various directions, and of which the form[5] and extent vary according +to the visual power which is applied to them. Many of the nebulae and +especially of the fainter ones, entirely change their form with the +optical power of the instrument by which they are scrutinized; so that, +as seen in the mightier telescopes of modern times, the astronomer +scarcely recognizes the figures in which the earlier observers have +recorded what they saw in the same place. Parts which, before, were +separate, are connected by thin bridges of light which are now detected; +and where the nebulous space appeared to be bounded, it sends off long +tails of faint light into the surrounding space. Now, no one can suppose +that these newly-seen portions of the nebula are immensely further off +than the other parts. However little we know of the nature of the +object, we must suppose it to be one connected object, with all its +parts, as to sense, at the same distance from us. Whether therefore it +be resolvable or no, there must be some other reason, besides the +difference of distance, why the brighter parts were seen, while the +fainter parts were not. The obvious reason is, that the latter were not +seen because they were thin films which required more light to see them. +We are led, irresistibly as it seems, to regard the whole mass of such a +nebula, as an aggregation of vaporous rolls and streaks, assuming such +forms as thin volumes of smoke or vapor often assume in our atmosphere, +and assuming, like them, different shapes according to the quantity of +light which comes to us from them. If, as soon as one of these new +filaments or webs of a nebula comes into view, we should say, Here we +have a new array of suns and of worlds, we should judge as +fantastically, as any one who should combine the like imaginations with +the varying cloud-work of a summer-sky. To suppose that all the varied +streaks by which the patch of nebulous light shades off into the +surrounding darkness, and which change their form and extent with every +additional polish which we can give to a reflecting or refracting +surface, disclose, with every new streak, new worlds, is a wanton +indulgence of fancy, to which astronomy gives us no countenance.[6] + +17. Undoubtedly all true astronomers, taught caution and temperance of +thought by the discipline of their magnificent science, abstain from +founding such assumptions upon their discoveries. They know how +necessary it is to be upon their guard against the tricks which fancy +plays with the senses; and if they see appearances of which they cannot +interpret the meaning, they are content that they should have no meaning +for them, till the due explanation comes. We have innumerable examples +of this wise and cautious temper, in all periods of astronomy. One has +occurred lately. Several careful astronomers, observing the stars by +day, had been surprised to see globes of light glide across the field of +view of their telescopes, often in rapid succession and in great +numbers. They did not, as may be supposed, rush to the assumption that +these globes were celestial bodies of a new kind, before unseen; and +that from the peculiarity of their appearance and movement, they were +probably inhabited by beings of a peculiar kind. They proceeded very +differently; they altered the focus of their telescopes, looked with +other glasses, made various changes and trials, and finally discovered +that these globes of light were the winged seeds of certain plants which +were wafted through the air; and which, illuminated by the sun, were +made globular by being at distances unsuited to the focus of the +telescope.[7] + +18. But perhaps something more may be founded on the ramified and +straggling form which belongs to many of the nebulae. Under the powers of +Lord Rosse's telescope, a considerable number of them assume a shape +consisting of several spiral films diverging from one centre, and +growing broader and fainter as they diverge, so as to resemble a curled +feather, or whirlpool of light.[8] This form, though generally deformed +by irregularities, more or less, is traceable in so many of the nebulae, +that we cannot easily divest ourselves of the persuasion that there is +some general reason for such a form;--that something, in the mechanical +causes which have produced the nebulae, has tended to give them this +shape. Now, when this thought has occurred to us, since mathematicians +have written a great deal concerning the mechanics of the universe, it +is natural to ask, whether any of the problems which they have solved +give a result like that thus presented to our eyes. Do such spirals as +we here see, occur in any of the diagrams which illustrate the possible +motions of celestial bodies? And to this, a person acquainted with +mathematical literature might reply, that in the second Book of Newton's +_Principia_, in the part which has especial reference to the Vortices +of Descartes, such spirals appear upon the page. They represent +the path which a body would describe if, acted upon by a central +force, it had to move in a medium of which the resistance was +considerable;--considerable, that is, in comparison with the other +forces which act; as for example, the forces which deflect the motion +from a straight line. Indeed, that in such a case a body would describe +a spiral, of which the general form would be more or less oval, is +evident on a little consideration. And in this way, for instance, +Encke's comet, which, if the resistance to its motion were insensible, +would go on describing an ellipse about the sun, always returning upon +the same path after every revolution; does really describe a path which, +at each revolution, falls a little within the preceding revolution, and +thus gradually converges to the centre. And if we suppose the comet to +consist of a luminous mass, or a string of masses, which should occupy +a considerable arc of such an orbit, the orbit would be marked by a +track of light, as an oval spiral. Or if such a comet were to separate +into two portions, as we have, with our own eyes, recently seen Biela's +comet do; or into a greater number; then these portions would be +distributed along such a spiral. And if we suppose a large mass of +cometic matter thus to move in a highly resisting medium, and to consist +of patches of different densities, then some would move faster and some +more slowly; but all, in spirals such as have been spoken of; and the +general aspect produced would be, that of the spiral nebulae which I have +endeavored to describe. The luminous matter would be more diffused in +the outer and more condensed in the central parts, because to the centre +of attraction all the spirals converge. + +19. This would be so, we say, if the luminous matter moved in a greatly +resisting medium. But what is the measure of _great_ resistance? It is, +as we have already said, that the resistance which opposes the motion +shall bear a considerable proportion to the force which deflects the +motion. But what is that force? Upon the theory of the universal +gravitation of matter, on which theory we here proceed, the force which +deflects the motions of the parts of each system into curves, is the +mutual attraction of the parts of the system; leaving out of the account +the action of other systems, as comparatively insignificant and +insensible. The condition, then, for the production of such spiral +figures as I have spoken of, amounts really to this; that the mutual +attraction of the parts of the luminous matter is slight; or, in other +words, that the matter itself is very thin and rare. In that case, +indeed, we can easily see that such a result would follow. A cloud of +dust, or of smoke, which was thin and light, would make but a little way +through the air, and would soon fall downwards; while a metal bullet +shot horizontally with the same velocity, might fly for miles. Just so, +a loose and vaporous mass of cometic matter would be pulled rapidly +inwards by the attraction to the centre; and supposing it also drawn +into a long train, by the different density of its different parts, it +would trace, in lines of light, a circular or elliptical spiral +converging to the centre of attraction, and resembling one of the +branches of the spiral nebulae. And if several such cometic masses thus +travelled towards the centre, they would exhibit the wheel-like figure +with bent spokes, which is seen in the spiral nebulae. And such a figure +would all the more resemble some of these nebulae, as seen through Lord +Rosse's telescope, if the spirals were accompanied by exterior branches +of thinner and fainter light, which nebulous matter of smaller density +might naturally form. Perhaps too, such matter, when thin, may be +supposed to cool down more rapidly from its state of incandescence; and +thus to become less luminous. If this were so, a great optical power +would of course be required, to make the diverging branches visible at +all. + +20. There is one additional remark, which we may make, as to the +resemblance of cometary[9] and nebular matter. That cometary matter is +of very small density, we have many reasons to believe:--its +transparency, which allows us to see stars through it undimmed;--the +absence of any mechanical effect, weight, inertia, impulse, or +attraction, in the nearest appulses of comets to planets and +satellites:--and the fact that, in the recent remarkable event in the +cometic history, the separation of Biela's comet into two, the two parts +did not appear to exert any perceptible attraction on each other, any +more than two volumes of dust or of smoke would do on earth. Luminous +cometary matter, then, is very light, that is, has very little weight or +inertia. And luminous nebulous matter is also very light in this sense: +if our account of the cause of spiral nebulae has in it any truth. But +yet, if we suppose the nebulae to be governed by the law of universal +gravitation, the attractive force of the luminous matter upon itself, +must be sufficient to bend the spirals into their forms. How are we to +reconcile this; that the matter is so loose that it falls to the centre +in rapid spirals, and yet that it attracts so strongly that there is a +centre, and an energetic central force to curve the spirals thither? To +this, the reply which we must make is, that the size of the nebular +space is such, that though its rarity is extreme, its whole mass is +considerable. One part does not perceptibly attract another, but the +whole does perceptibly attract every part. This indeed need the less +surprise us, since it is exactly the case with our earth. One stone does +not visibly attract another. It is much indeed for man, if he can make +perceptible the attraction of a mountain upon a plumb-line; or of a +stratum of rock a thousand feet thick upon the going of a pendulum; or +of large masses of metal upon a delicate balance. By such experiments +men of science have endeavored to measure that minute thing, the +attraction of one portion of terrestrial matter upon another; and thus, +to weigh the whole mass of the earth. And equally great, at least, may +be the disproportion between the mutual attraction of two parts of a +nebulous system, and the total central attraction; and thus, though the +former be insensible, the latter may be important. + +21. It has been shown by Newton, that if any mass of matter be +distributed in a uniform sphere, or in uniform concentric spherical +shells, the total attraction on a point without the sphere, will be the +same as if the whole mass were collected in that single point, the +centre. Now, proceeding upon the supposition of such a distribution of +the matter in a nebula, (which is a reasonable average supposition,) we +may say, that if our sun were expanded into a nebula reaching to the +extreme bounds of the known solar system, namely, to the +newly-discovered planet Neptune, or even hundreds of times further; the +attraction on an external point would remain the same as it is, while +the attraction on points within the sphere of diffusion would be less +than it is; according to some law, depending upon the degree of +condensation of the nebular matter towards the centre; but still, in the +outer regions of the nebula, not differing much from the present solar +attraction. If we could discover a mass of luminous matter, descending +in a spiral course towards the centre of such a nebula, that is, towards +the sun, we should have a sort of element of the spiral nebulae which +have now attracted so much of the attention of astronomers. But, by an +extraordinary coincidence, recent discoveries have presented to us such +an element. Encke's comet, of which we have just spoken, appears to be +describing such a spiral curve towards the sun. It is found that its +period is, at every revolution, shorter and shorter; the amplitude of +its sweep, at every return within the limits of our observation, +narrower and narrower; so that in the course of revolutions and ages, +however numerous, still, not such as to shake the evidence of the fact, +it will fall into the sun. + +22. Here then we are irresistibly driven to calculate what degree of +resemblance there is, between the comet of Encke, and the luminous +elements of the spiral nebulae, which have recently been found to exist +in other regions of the universe. Can we compare its density with +theirs? Can we learn whether the luminous matter in such nebulae is more +diffused or less diffused, than that of the comet of Encke? Can we +compare the mechanical power of getting through space, as we may call +it, that is, the ratio of the inertia to the resistance, in the one +case, and in the other? If we can, the comparison cannot fail, it would +seem, to be very curious and instructive. In this comparison, as in most +others to which cosmical relations conduct us, we must expect that the +numbers to which we are led, will be of very considerable amount. It is +not equality in the density of the two luminous masses which we are to +expect to find; if we can mark their proportions by thousands of times, +we shall have made no small progress in such speculations. + +23. The comet of Encke describes a spiral, gradually converging to the +sun; but at what rate converging? In how many revolutions will it reach +the sun? Of how many folds will its spire consist, before it attains the +end of its course? The answer is:--Of very many. The retardation of +Encke's Comet is very small: so small, that it has tasked the highest +powers of modern calculation to detect it. Still, however, it is there: +detected, and generally acknowledged, and confirmed by every revolution +of the comet, which brings it under our notice; that is, commonly, about +every three years. And having this fact, we must make what we can of it, +in reasoning on the condition of the universe. No accuracy of +calculation is necessary for our purpose: it is enough, if we bring into +view the kind of scale of numbers to which calculation would lead us. + +24. Encke's comet revolves round the sun in 1,211 days. The period +diminishes at present, by about one-ninth of a day every revolution. +This amount of diminution will change, as the orbit narrows; but for our +purpose, it will be enough to consider it unchangeable. The orbit +therefore will cease to exist in a number of periods expressed by 9 +times 1,211; that is, in something more that 10,000 revolutions; and of +course sooner than this, in consequence of its coming in contact with +the body of the sun. In 30,000 years then, it may be, this comet will +complete its spiral, and be absorbed by the central mass. This long +time, this long series of ten thousand revolutions, are long, because +the resistance is so small, compared with the inertia of the moving +mass. However thin, and rare, and unsubstantial the comet may be, the +medium which resists it is much more so. + +25. But this spiral, converging to its pole so slowly that it reaches it +only after 10,000 circuits, is very different indeed from the spirals +which we see in the nebulae of which we have spoken. In the most +conspicuous of those, there are only at most three or four circular or +oval sweeps, in each spiral, or even the spiral reaches the centre +before it has completed a single revolution round it. Now, what are we +to infer from this? How is it, that the comet has a spiral of so many +revolutions, and the nebulae of so few? What difference of the mechanical +conditions is indicated by this striking difference of form? Why, while +the Comet thus lingers longer in the outer space, and approaches the sun +by almost imperceptible degrees, does the Nebular Element rush, as it +were, headlong to its centre, and show itself unable to circulate even +for a few revolutions? + +26. Regarding the question as a mechanical problem, the answer must be +this:--It is so, because the nebula is so much more rare than the matter +of the comet, or the resisting medium so much more dense; or combining +the two suppositions, because in the case of the comet, the luminous +matter has _much_ more inertia, more mechanical reality and substance, +than the medium through which it moves; but in the nebula very _little_ +more. + +27. The numbers of revolutions of the spiral, in the two cases, may not +exactly represent the difference of the proportions; but, as I have +said, they may serve to show the scale of them; and thus we may say, +that if Encke's comet, approaching the centre by 10,000 revolutions, is +100,000 times as dense as the surrounding medium, the elements of the +nebula, which reach the centre in a single revolution, are only ten +times as dense as the medium through which they have to move.[10] + +28. Nor does this result (that the bright element of the nebulae is so +few times denser than the medium in which it moves) offer anything which +need surprise us: for, in truth, in a diffused nebula, since we suppose +that its parts have mechanical properties, the nebula itself is a +resisting medium. The rarer parts, which may very naturally have cooled +down in consequence of their rarity, and so, become non-luminous, will +resist the motions of the more dense and still-luminous portions. If we +recur to the supposition, which we lately made, that the Sun were +expanded into a nebulous sphere, reaching the orbit of Neptune, the +diffused matter would offer a far greater resistance to the motions of +comets than they now experience. In that case, Encke's comet might be +brought to the centre after a few revolutions; and if, while it were +thus descending, it were to be drawn out into a string of luminous +masses, as Biela's comet has begun to be, these comets, and any others, +would form separate luminous spiral tracks in the solar system; and +would convert it into a spiral nebula of many branches, like those which +are now the most recent objects of astronomical wonder. + +29. It seems allowable to regard it as one of those coincidences, in the +epochs of related yet seeming unconnected discoveries, which have so +often occurred in the history of science; that we should, nearly at the +same time, have had brought to our notice, the prevalence of spiral +nebulae, and the circumstances, in Biela's and in Encke's comets, which +seem to explain them: the one by showing the origin of luminous broken +lines, one part drifting on faster than another, according to its +different density, as is usual in incoherent masses;[11] and the other +by showing the origin of the spiral form of those lines, arising from +the motion being in a resisting medium. + +30. But though I have made suppositions by which our Solar System might +become a spiral nebula, undoubtedly it is at present something very +different; and the leading points of difference are very important for +us to consider. And the main point is, that which has already been +cursorily noticed: that instead of consisting of matter all nearly of +the same density, and a great deal of it luminous, our Solar System +consists of kinds of matter immensely different in density, and of large +and regular portions which are not luminous. Instead of a diffused +nebula with vaporous comets trailing spiral tracks through a medium +little rarer than themselves; we have a central sun, and the dark globes +of the solid planets rolling round him, in a medium so rare, that in +thousands of revolutions not a vestige of retardation can be discovered +by the most subtle and persevering researches of astronomers. In the +solar system, the luminous matter is collected into the body of the sun; +the non-luminous matter, into the planets. And the comets and the +resisting medium, which offer a small exception to this account, bear a +proportion to the rest which the power of numbers scarce suffices to +express. + +31. Thus with regard to the density of matter in the solar system; we +have supposed, as a mode of expression, that the density of a comet, +Encke's comet for instance, is 100,000 times that of the resisting +medium. Probably this is greatly understated; and probably also we +greatly understate the matter, when we suppose that the tail of a comet +is 100,000 times rarer than the matter of the sun.[12] And thus the +resisting medium would be, at a very low calculation, 10,000 millions of +times more rare than the substance of the sun. + +32. And thus we are not, I think, going too far, when we say, that our +Solar System, compared with spiral nebulous systems, is a system +completed and finished, while they are mere confused, indiscriminate, +incoherent masses. In the Nebulae, we have loose matter of a thin and +vaporous constitution, differing as more or less rare, more or less +luminous, in a small degree; diffused over enormous spaces, in +straggling and irregular forms; moving in devious and brief curves, with +no vestige of order or system, or even of separation of different kinds +of bodies. In the Solar System, we have the luminous separated from the +non-luminous, the hot from the cold, the dense from the rare; and all, +luminous and non-luminous, formed into globes, impressed with regular +and orderly motions, which continue the same for innumerable revolutions +and cycles.[13] The spiral nebulae, compared with the solar system, +cannot be considered as other than a kind of chaos; and not even a +chaos, in the sense of a state preceding an orderly and stable system; +for there is no indication, in those objects, of any tendency towards +such a system. If we were to say that they appear mere shapeless masses, +flung off in the work of creating solar systems, we might perhaps +disturb those who are resolved to find everywhere worlds like ours; but +it seems difficult to suggest any other reason for not saying so. + +33. The same may be said of the other very irregular nebulae, which +spread out patches and paths of various degrees of brightness; and shoot +out, into surrounding space, faint branches which are of different form +and extent, according to the optical power with which they are seen. +These irregular forms are incapable of being permanent according to the +laws of mechanics. They are not figures of equilibrium; and, therefore, +must change by the attraction of the matter upon itself. But if the +tenuity of the matter is extreme, and the resistance of the medium in +which it floats considerable, this tendency to change and to +condensation may be almost nullified; and the bright specks may long +keep their straggling forms, as the most fantastically shaped clouds of +a summer-sky often do. It is true, it may be said that the reason why we +see no change in the form of such nebulae, is that our observations have +not endured long enough; all visible changes in the stars requiring an +immense time, according to the gigantic scale of celestial mechanism. +But even this hypothesis (it is no more) tends to establish the extreme +tenuity of the nebulae; for more solid systems, like our solar system, +require, for the preservation of their form, motions which are +perceptible, and indeed conspicuous, in the course of a month; namely, +the motions of the planets. All, therefore, concurs to prove the extreme +tenuity of the substance of irregular nebulae. + +34. Nebulae which assume a regular, for instance, a circular or oval +shape, with whatever variation of luminous density from the inner to the +outer parts, may have a form of equilibrium, if their parts have a +proper gyratory motion. Still, we see no reason for supposing that these +differ so much from irregular nebulae, as to be denser bodies, kept in +their forms by rapid motions. We are rather led to believe that, though +perhaps denser than the spiral nebulae, they are still of extremely thin +and vaporous character. It would seem very unlikely that these vast +clouds of luminous vapor should be as dense as the tail of a comet; +since a portion of luminous matter so small as such a tail is, must have +cooled down from its most luminous condition; and must require to be +more dense than nebular matter in order to be visible at all by its own +light. + +35. Thus we appear to have good reason to believe that nebulae are vast +masses of incoherent or gaseous matter, of immense tenuity, diffused in +forms more or less irregular, but all of them destitute of any regular +system of solid moving bodies. We seem, therefore, to have made it +certain that _these_ celestial objects at least are not inhabited. No +speculators have been bold enough to place inhabitants in a comet; +except, indeed, some persons who have imagined that such a habitation, +carrying its inmates alternately into the close vicinity of the sun's +surface, and far beyond the orbit of Uranus, and thus exposing them to +the fierce extremes of heat and cold, might be the seat of penal +inflictions on those who had deserved punishment by acts done in their +life on one of the planets. But even to give coherence to this wild +imagination, we must further suppose that the tenants of such +prison-houses, though still sensible to human suffering from extreme +heat and cold, have bodies of the same vaporous and unsubstantial +character as the vehicle in which they are thus carried about the +system; for no frame of solid structure could be sustained by the +incoherent and varying volume of a comet. And probably, to people the +nebulae with such thin and fiery forms, is a mode of providing them with +population, that the most ardent advocates of the plurality of worlds +are not prepared to adopt. + +36. So far then as the Nebulae are concerned, the improbability of their +being inhabited, appears to mount to the highest point that can be +conceived. We may, by the indulgence of fancy, people the summer-clouds, +or the beams of the aurora borealis, with living beings, of the same +kind of substance as those bright appearances themselves; and in doing +so, we are not making any bolder assumption than we are, when we stock +the Nebulae with inhabitants, and call them in that sense, "distant +worlds." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Herschel, _Outl. of Astr._ Art. 893. + +[2] Herschel, _Outl. of Astr._ Art. 874, and Plate 11, Fig. 3. + +[3] Ibid. Art. 897. + +[4] Hersch. 874. + +[5] Ibid. 881-8. + +[6] At the recent meeting of the British Association (Sept. 1853), +drawings were exhibited of the same nebulae, as seen through Lord Rosse's +large telescope, and through a telescope of three feet aperture. With +the smaller telescopic power, all the characteristic features were lost. +The spiral structure (see next Article but one) has been almost entirely +brought to light by the large telescope. + +[7] See monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Dec. 13, +1850. + +[8] The frontispiece to this volume represents two of these Spiral +Nebulae; those denominated 51 Messier, and 99 Messier, as given by Lord +Rosse in the _Phil. Trans. for 1850_. The former of these two has a +lateral focus, besides the principal focus or pole. + +[9] I am aware that some astronomers do not consider it as proved that +cometary matter is entirely self-luminous. Arago found that the light of +a Comet contained a portion of polarized light, thus proving that it had +been reflected (_Cosmos_, I. p. 111, and III. p. 566). But I think the +opinion that the greater part of the light is self-luminous, like the +nebulae, generally prevails. Any other supposition is scarcely consistent +with the rapid changes of brightness which occur in a comet during its +motion to and from the Sun. + +[10] We assume here that the number of revolutions to the centre is +greater in proportion as the relative density of the resisting medium is +less; which is by no means mechanically true; but the calculation may +serve, as we have said, to show the scale of the numbers involved. + +[11] Humboldt, whom nothing relative to the history of science escapes, +quotes from Seneca a passage in which mention is made of a Comet which +divided into two parts; and from the Chinese Annals, a notice of three +"coupled Comets," which in the year 896 appeared, and described their +paths together. _Cosmos_, III. p. 570, and the notes. + +[12] Laplace has proved that the masses of comets are very small. He +reckons their mean mass as very much less than 1-100000th of the Earth's +mass. And hence, considering their great size, we see how rare they must +be. See _Expos. du Syst. du Monde_. + +[13] Humboldt repeatedly expresses his conviction that our Solar System +contains a greater variety of forms than other systems. (_Cosmos_, III. +373 and 587.) + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE FIXED STARS. + + +1. We appear, in the last chapter, to have cleared away the supposed +inhabitants of the outskirts of creation, so far as the Nebulae are the +outskirts of creation. We must now approach a little nearer, in +appearance at least, to our own system. We must consider the Fixed +Stars; and examine any evidence which we may be able to discover, as to +the probability of their containing, in themselves or in accompanying +bodies, as planets, inhabitants of any kind. Any special evidence which +we can discern on this subject, either way, is indeed slight. On the one +side we have the asserted analogy of the parts of the universe; of which +point we have spoken, and may have more to say hereafter. Each Fixed +Star is conceived to be of the nature of our Sun; and therefore, like +him, the centre of a planetary system. On the other side, it is +extremely difficult to find any special facts relative to the nature of +the fixed stars, which may enable us in any degree to judge how far they +really are of a like nature with the Sun, and how far this resemblance +goes. We may, however, notice a few features in the starry heavens, with +which, in the absence of any stronger grounds, we may be allowed to +connect our speculations on such questions. The assiduous scrutiny of +the stars which has been pursued by the most eminent astronomers, and +the reflections which their researches have suggested to them, may have +a new interest, when discussed under this point of view. + +2. Next after the Nebulae, the cases which may most naturally engage our +attention, are Clusters of stars. The cases, indeed, in which these +clusters are the closest, and the stars the smallest, and in which, +therefore, it is only by the aid of a good telescope that they are +resolved into stars, do not differ from the resolvable nebulae, except in +the degree of optical power which is required to resolve them. We may, +therefore, it would seem, apply to such clusters, what we have said of +resolvable nebulae: that when they are thus, by the application of +telescopic power, resolved into bright points, it seems to be a very +bold assumption to assume, without further proof, that these bright +points are suns, distant from each other as far as we are from the +nearest stars. The boldness of such an assumption appears to be felt by +our wisest astronomers.[1] That several of the clusters which are +visible, some of them appearing as if the component stars were gathered +together in a nearly spherical form, are systems bound together by some +special force, or some common origin, we may regard, with those +astronomers, as in the highest degree probable. With respect to the +stability of the form of such a system, a curious remark has been made +by Sir John Herschel,[2] that if we suppose a globular space filled with +equal stars, uniformly dispersed through it, the particular stars might +go on forever, describing ellipses about the centre of the globe, in all +directions, and of all sizes; and all completing their revolutions in +the same time. This follows, because, as Newton has shown, in such a +case, the compound force which tends to the centre of the sphere would +be everywhere proportional to the distance from the centre; and under +the action of such a force, ellipses about the centre would be +described, all the periods being of the same amount. This kind of +symmetrical and simple systematic motion, presented by Newton as a mere +exemplification of the results of his mechanical principles, is perhaps +realized, approximately at least, in some of the globular clusters. The +motions will be swift or slow, according to the total mass of the +groups. If, for instance, our Sun were thus broken into fragments, so as +to fill the sphere girdled by the earth's orbit, all the fragments would +revolve round the centre in a year. Now, there is no symptom, in any +cluster, of its parts moving nearly so fast as this; and therefore we +have, it would seem, evidence that the groups are much less dense than +would be the space so filled with fragments of the sun. The slowness of +the motions, in this case, as in the nebulae, is evidence of the weakness +of the forces, and therefore, of the rarity of the mass; and till we +have some gyratory motion discovered in these groups, we have nothing to +limit our supposition of the extreme tenuity of their total substance. + +3. Let us then go on to the cases in which we have proof of such +gyratory motions in the stars; for such are not wanting. Fifty years +ago, Herschel the father, had already ascertained that there are certain +pairs of stars, very near each other (so near, indeed, that to the +unassisted eye they are seen as single stars only,) and which revolve +about each other. These Binary Sidereal Systems have since been examined +with immense diligence and profound skill by Herschel the son, and +others; and the number of such binary systems has been found, by such +observers, to be very considerable. The periods of their revolutions are +of various lengths, from 30 or 40 years to several hundreds of years. +Some of those pairs which have the shortest periods, have already, +since the nature of their movements was discovered, performed more than +a complete revolution;[3] thus leaving no room for doubting that their +motions are really of this gyratory kind. Not only the fact, but the law +of this orbital motion, has been investigated; and the investigations, +which naturally were commenced on the hypothesis that these distant +bodies were governed by that Law of universal Gravitation, which +prevails throughout the solar system, and so completely explains the +minutest features of its motions, have ended in establishing the reality +of that Law, for several Binary Systems, with as complete evidence as +that which carries its operations to the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. + +4. Being able thus to discern, in distant regions of the universe, +bodies revolving about each other, we have the means of determining, as +we do in our own solar system, the masses of the bodies so revolving. +But for this purpose, we must know their distance from each other; which +is, to our vision, exceedingly small, requiring, as we have said, high +magnifying powers to make it visible at all. And again, to know what +linear distance this small visible distance represents, we must know the +distance of the stars from us, which is, for every star, as we know, +immensely great; and for most, we are destitute of all means of +determining how great it is. There are, however, some of these binary +systems, in which astronomers conceive that they have sufficiently +ascertained the value of both these elements, (the distance of the two +stars from each other, and from us,) to enable them to proceed with the +calculation of which I have spoken; the determination of the masses of +the revolving bodies. In the case of the star _Alpha Centauri_, the +first star in the constellation of the Centaur, the period is reckoned +to be 77 years; and as, by the same calculator, the apparent semi-axis +of the orbit described is stated at 15 seconds of space, while the +annual parallax of each star is about one second, it is evident that the +orbit must have a radius about 15 times the radius of the earth's orbit; +that is, an orbit greater than that of Saturn, and approaching to that +of Uranus. In the solar system, a revolution in such an orbit would +occupy a time greater than that of Saturn, which is 30 years, and less +than that of Uranus, which is about 80 years: it would, in fact, be +about 58 years. And since, in the binary star, the period is greater +than this, namely 77 years, the attraction which holds together its two +elements must be less than that which holds together the Sun and a +planet at the same distance; and therefore the masses of the two stars +together are considerably less than the mass of our sun. + +5. A like conclusion is derived from another of these conspicuous double +stars, namely, the one termed by astronomers _61 Cygni_; of which the +annual parallax has lately been ascertained to be one-third of a second +of space, while the distance of the two stars is 15 seconds. Here +therefore we have an orbit 45 times the size of the Earth's orbit; +larger than that of the newly-discovered planet Neptune, whose orbit is +30 times as large as the earth's, and his period nearly 165 years. The +period of 61 Cygni is however, it appears, probably not short of 500 +years; and hence it is calculated that the sum of the masses of the two +stars which make up this pair is about one-third of the mass of our +Sun.[4] + +6. These results give some countenance to the opinion, that the quantity +of luminous matter, in other systems, does not differ very considerably +from the mass of our Sun. It differs in these cases as 1 to 3, or +thereabouts. In what degree of condensation, however, the matter of +these binary systems is, compared with that of our solar system, we have +no means whatever of knowing. Each of the two stars may have its +luminous matter diffused through a globe as large as the earth's orbit; +and in that case, would probably not be more dense than the tail of a +comet.[5] It is observed by astronomers, that in the pairs of binary +stars which we have mentioned, the two stars of each pair are of +different colors; the stars being of a high yellow, approaching to +orange color,[6] but the smaller individual being in each case of a +deeper tint. This might suggest to us the conjecture that the smaller +mass had cooled further below the point of high luminosity than the +larger; but that both these degrees of light belong to a condition still +progressive, and probably still gaseous. Without attaching any great +value to such conjectures, they appear to be at least as well authorized +as the supposition that each of these stars, thus different, is +nevertheless precisely in the condition of our sun. + +7. But, even granting that each of the individuals of this pair were a +sun like ours, in the nature of its material and its state of +condensation, is it probable that it resembles our Sun also in having +planets revolving about it? A system of planets revolving around or +among a pair of suns, which are, at the same time, revolving about one +another, is so complex a scheme, so impossible to arrange in a stable +manner, that the assumption of the existence of such schemes, without a +vestige of evidence, can hardly require confutation. No doubt, if we +were really required to provide such a binary system of suns with +attendant planets, this would be best done by putting the planets so +near to one sun, that they should not be sensibly affected by the other; +and this is accordingly what has been proposed.[7] For, as has been well +said of the supposed planets, in making this proposal, "Unless closely +nestled under the protecting wing of their immediate superior, the sweep +of the other sun in his perihelion passage round their own, might carry +them off, or whirl them into orbits utterly inconsistent with the +existence of their inhabitants." To assume the existence of the +inhabitants, in spite of such dangers, and to provide against the +dangers by placing them so close to one sun as to be out of the reach of +the other, though the whole distance of the two may not, and as we have +seen, in some cases does not, exceed the dimensions of our solar system, +is showing them all the favor which is possible. But in making this +provision, it is overlooked that it may not be possible to keep them in +permanent orbits so near to the selected centre: their sun may be a vast +sphere of luminous vapor; and the planets, plunged into this atmosphere, +may, instead of describing regular orbits, plough their way in spiral +paths through the nebulous abyss to its central nucleus. + +8. Clustered stars, then, and double stars, appear to give us but little +promise of inhabitants. We must next turn our attention to the single +stars, as the most hopeful cases. Indeed, it is certain that no one +would have thought of regarding the individual stars of clusters, or of +pairs, as the centres of planetary systems, if the view of insulated +stars, as the centres of such systems, had not already become familiar, +and, we may say, established. What, then, is the probability of that +view? Is there good evidence that the Fixed Stars, or some of them, +really have planets revolving round them? What is the kind of proof +which we have of this? + +9. To this we must reply, that the only proof that the fixed stars are +the centres of planetary systems, resides in the assumption that those +stars are _like the Sun_;--resemble him in their qualities and nature, +and therefore, it is inferred, must have the same offices, and the same +appendages. They are, as the Sun is, independent sources of light, and +thence, probably, of heat; and therefore they must have attendant +planets, to which they can impart their light and heat; and these +planets must have inhabitants, who live under and enjoy those +influences. This is, probably, the kind of reasoning on which those +rely, who regard the fixed stars as so many worlds, or centres of +families of worlds. + +10. Everything in this argument, therefore, depends upon this: that the +Stars are _like the Sun_; and we must consider, what evidence we have of +the exactness of this likeness. + +11. The Stars are like the Sun in this, that they shine with an +independent light, not with a borrowed light, as the planets shine. In +this, however, the stars resemble, not only the Sun, but the nebulous +patches in the sky, and the tails of comets; for these also, in all +probability, shine with an original light. Probably it will hardly be +urged that we see, by the very appearance of the stars, that they are of +the nature of the Sun: for the appearance of luminaries in the sky is so +far from enabling us to discriminate the nature of their light, that to +a common eye, a planet and a fixed star appear alike as stars. There is +no obvious distinction between the original light of the stars and the +reflected light of the planets. The stars, then, being like the sun in +being luminous, does it follow that they are, like the sun, definite +dense masses?[8] Or are they, or many of them, luminous masses in a far +more diffused state; visually contracted to points, by the immense +distance from us at which they are? + +12. We have seen that some of those stars, which we have the best means +of examining, are, in mass, one third, or less, of our Sun. If such a +mass, at the distance of the fixed stars, were diffused through a sphere +equal in radius to the earth's orbit, it would still appear to us as a +point; as is evident by this, that the fixed stars, for the most part, +have no discoverable annual parallax; that is, the earth's orbit appears +to them a point. If one of the fixed stars, Sirius, for instance, be in +this diffused condition, such a circumstance will not, mechanically +speaking, prevent his having planets revolving round him; for, as we +have said, the attraction of his whole mass, in whatever state of +spherical diffusion, will be the same as if it were collected at the +centre. But such a state of diffusion will make him so unlike our Sun, +as much to break the force of the presumption that he must have planets +because our Sun has. If the luminous matter of the stars gradually +cools, grows dark, and solidifies, such diffusion would imply that the +time of solidification is not yet begun; and therefore that the solid +planets which accompany the luminous central body are not yet brought +into being. If there be any truth in this hypothetical account of the +changes, through which the matter of the stars successively passes; and +if, by such changes, planetary systems are formed; how many of the fixed +stars may never yet have reached the planetary state! how many, for want +of some necessary mechanical condition, may never give rise to permanent +orbits at all! + +13. And that the matter of the stars does go through changes, we have +evidence, in many such changes which have actually been observed;[9] +and perhaps in the different colors of different stars; which may, not +improbably, arise from their being at different stages of their +progress. That planetary systems, once formed, go through mighty +changes, we have evidence in the view which geology gives us of the +history of this earth; and in that view, we see also, how unique, and +how far elevated in its purpose, the last period of this history may be, +compared with the preceding periods; and, up to the present time at +least, how comparatively brief in its duration. If, therefore, stellar +globes can become planetary systems in the progress of ages, it will not +be at all inconsistent with what we know of the order of nature, that +only a few, or even that only one, should have yet reached that +condition. All the others, but the one, may be systems yet unformed, or +fragments struck off in the forming of the one. If any one is not +satisfied with this account of the degree of resemblance between the +fixed stars and the sun, but would make the likeness greater than this; +we have only to say, that the proof that it is so lies upon him. Such a +resemblance as we have supposed, is all that the facts suggest. That the +stars are independent luminaries, we see; but whether they are as dense +as the sun, or globes a hundred or a thousand times as rare, we have no +means whatever of knowing. And, to assume that besides these luminous +bodies which we see, there are dark bodies which we do not see, +revolving round the others in permanent orbits, which require special +mechanical conditions; and to suppose this, in order that we may build +upon this assumption a still larger one, that of living inhabitants of +these dark bodies; is a hypothetical procedure, which it seems strange +that we should have to combat, at the present stage of the history of +science, and in dealing with those whose minds have been disciplined by +the previous events in the progress of astronomy. + +14. Let us consider, however, further, how far astronomy authorizes us +to regard the Fixed Stars as being, like our Sun, the centres of systems +of Planets. Those who hold this, consider them as having a permanent +condition of brightness, as our Sun has had for an indefinite period, so +far as we have any knowledge on the subject. Yet, as we have said, no +small number of the stars undergo changes of brightness; and some of +them undergo such changes, in a manner which is not discernibly +periodical; and which must therefore be regarded as progressive. This +phenomenon countenances the opinion of such a progress from one material +condition to another; which, we have seen, is suggested by the analogy +of the probable formation of our own solar system. The very star which +is so often taken as the probable centre of a system, Sirius, has, in +the course of the last 2,000 years, changed its light from red to white. +Ptolemy notes it as a red star: in Tycho's time it was already, as it is +now, a white one.[10] The star _Eta Argus_ changes both its degree of +light and its color; ranging, in seemingly irregular intervals of time, +from the fourth to the first magnitude,[11] and from yellow to red. +Several other examples of the like kind have been observed. Mr. Hind[12] +gives an example in which he has, quite recently, observed in two years +a star change its color from very red to bluish. These variable +unperiodical stars are probably very numerous. Also, some stars, +observed of old, are now become invisible. "The lost Pleiad," by the +loss of which the cluster, called the Seven Stars, offers now only six +to the naked eye, is an example of a change of this kind already noted +in ancient times. There are several others, of which the extinction is +recognized by astronomers as proved.[13] In other cases, new stars have +appeared, and have then seemed to die away and vanish. The appearance of +a new star in the time of the Greek astronomer Hipparchus, induced him +to construct his famous Catalogue of the Stars. Others are recorded to +have appeared in the middle ages. The first which was observed by modern +astronomers was the celebrated star seen by Tycho Brahe in 1572. It +appeared suddenly in the constellation Cassiopeia, was fixed in its +place like the neighboring stars, had no nebula or tail, exceeded in +splendor all other stars, being as bright as Venus when she is nearest +the earth. It soon began to diminish in brightness, and passing through +various diminishing degrees of magnitude, vanished altogether after +seventeen months. This star also passed through various colors; being +first white, then yellow, then red. In like manner, in 1604, a new star +of great magnitude blazed forth in the constellation Serpentarius; and +was seen by Kepler. And this also, like that of 1572, after a few +months, declined and vanished. + +15. These appearances led Tycho to frame an hypothesis like that which +Sir William Herschel afterwards proposed, that the stars are formed by +the condensation of luminous nebulous matter. Nor is it easy to think of +such phenomena (of which several others have been observed, though none +so conspicuous as these), without regarding them as showing that the +matter of the fixed stars, occasionally at least, passes through changes +of consistence as great as would be the condensation and extinction of a +luminous vapor. And if such changes have been but few within the +recorded period of man's observation of the stars, we must recollect how +small that period is, compared with the period during which the stars +have existed. The stars themselves give us testimony of their having +been in being for millions of years. For according to the best estimates +we can form of their distances, the time which light would employ in +reaching us from the most remote of them, would be millions of years; +and, therefore, we now see those remote stars by means of the light +emitted from them millions of years ago. And if, in the 2,000 years +during which such observations are recorded, only 200 stars have +undergone such changes in a degree visible to the earth's inhabitants; +in a million of years, change going on at the same rate, 100,000 stars +would exhibit visible progressive change, showing that they had not yet +reached a permanent condition. And how much of change may go on in any +star without its being in any degree perceptible to the most exact +astronomical scrutiny! + +16. The tendency of these considerations is, to lead us to think that +the fixed stars are not generally in that permanent condition in which +our sun is; and which appears to be alone consistent with the existence +of a system such as the solar system.[14] These views, therefore, fall +in with that which we have been led to by this consideration of the +Nebulae: that the Solar System is in a more complete and advanced state, +as a system, than many at least of the stellar systems can be; it may +be, than any other. + +17. It has been alleged, as a proof of the likeness of the Fixed Stars +to our Sun, that like him, they revolve upon their axes.[15] This has +been supposed to be proved with regard to many of them, by their having +periodical recurrences of fainter and brighter lustre; as if they were +revolving orbs, with one side darkened by spots. Such facts are not very +numerous or definite in the heavens. _Omicron_[16] in the constellation +_Cetus_, is the longest known of them; and is held to revolve in 831 +days. From the curious phenomena now spoken of, it has been called _Mira +Ceti_.[17] _Algol_, the second star (_Beta_) of _Perseus_, called also +_Caput Medusae_, is another, with a period of 2 days 21 hours; and in +this case, the obscuration of the light, and the restoration of it, are +so sudden, that from the time when it was first remarked, (by Goodricke, +in 1782,) it suggested the hypothesis of an opaque body revolving round +the star. The star _Delta_, in the constellation _Cephus_, is another, +with a period of 5 days 9 hours. The star _Beta_ in the _Lyre_, has a +period of 6 days 10 hours, or perhaps 12 days 21 hours, one revolution +having been taken for two. Another such star is _Eta Aquilae_, with a +period of 7 days 4 hours. These five are all the periodical stars of +which astronomers can speak with precision.[18] But about thirty more +are supposed to be subject to such change, though their periods, epochs, +and phases of brightness, cannot at present be given exactly. + +18. That these periodical changes in certain of the fixed stars are a +curious and interesting astronomical fact, is indisputable. Nothing can +be more probable also, than that it indicates, in the stellar masses, a +revolution on their axes; which cannot surprise us, seeing that +revolution upon an axis is, so far as we know, a universal law of all +the large compact masses of matter which exist in the universe; and may +be conceived to be a result derived from their origin, and a condition +of any permanent or nearly permanent figure. But this can prove little +or nothing as to their being like the sun, in any way which implies +their having inhabitants, in themselves or in accompanying planets. The +rotation of our Sun is not, in any intelligible way, connected with its +having near it the inhabited Earth. + +19. If we were to suppose some of the stars to be centres of planetary +systems, we can hardly suppose it likely that these alone rotate, and +that the others stand still. Probably all the stars rotate, more or less +regularly, according as they are permanent or variable in form; but the +most regular may still have no planets; and if they have, those planets +may be as blank of inhabitants as our moon will be proved to be. + +20. The revolution of Algol seems to approach the nearest to a fact in +favor of a star being the centre of a revolving system; and from the +first, as we have said, the periodical change, and the sudden darkening +and brightening of this luminary, suggested the supposition of an opaque +body revolving about it. But this body cannot be a planet. The planets +which revolve about our Sun are not, any of them, nor all of them +together, large enough to produce a perceptible obscuration of his +light, to a spectator outside the system. But in Algol, the phenomena +are very different from this.[19] The star is usually visible as a star +of the second magnitude; but during each period of 2 days 21 hours, (or +69 hours,) it suffers a kind of eclipse, which reduces it to a star of +the fourth magnitude. During this eclipse, the star diminishes in +splendor for 3-1/2 hours; is at its lowest brightness for a quarter of +an hour; and then, in 3-1/2 hours more, is restored to its original +splendor. According to these numbers, if the obscuration be produced by +a dark body revolving round a central luminary, and describing a +circular orbit, as the regular recurrence of the obscuration implies, +the space of the orbit during which the eclipsing body is interposed +must be about one-ninth of the circumference; for the obscuration +occupies 7-1/4 hours out of 69. And therefore the space during which the +eclipsing body obscures the central one, must be about one _sixth_ of +the _diameter_ of its orbit. But in order that the revolving body may, +through this space, obscure the central one, the latter must extend over +this space, namely, one sixth of the diameter of the orbit. But we may +remark that there is no proof, in the phenomena, that the darkening body +is detached from the bright mass. The effect would be the same if the +dark mass were a part of the revolving star itself. It may be that the +star has not yet assumed a spherical form, but is an oblong nebular mass +with one part (perhaps from being thinner in texture) cooled down and +become opaque. And the amount of obscuration, reducing the star from the +second to the fourth magnitude, implies that the obscuring mass is large +(perhaps one half the diameter, or much more) compared with the luminous +mass. If this be a probable hypothesis to account for the phenomena, +they are much more against than for the supposition of the star being +the centre of seats of habitation. And even if we have a planet nearly +as large as its sun, revolving at the distance of only six of the sun's +radii, how unlike is this to the solar system! + +21. In fact, all these periodical stars, in so far as they are +periodical, are proved, not to be like, but to be _unlike_ our sun. It +is true that the sun has spots, by means of which his rotation has been +determined by astronomers. But these spots, besides being so small that +they produce no perceptible alteration in his brightness, and are never, +or very rarely, visible to the naked eye, are not permanent. A star with +a permanent dark side would be very unlike our sun. The largest known of +these stars, _Mira_, as the old astronomers called it, becomes invisible +to the naked eye for 5 months during a period of 11 months. It must, +therefore, have nearly one half its surface quite dark. This is very +unlike the condition of the sun; and is a condition, it would seem, very +little fitted to make this star the centre of a planetary system like +ours. + +22. But there are other remarkable phenomena respecting these periodical +stars, which have a bearing on our subject. Their periods are not quite +regular, but are subject to certain variations. Thus it has been +supposed that the period of Mira is subject to a cyclical fluctuation, +embracing 88 of its periods; that is, about 80 years. But this notion of +a cycle of so long a duration, requires confirmation; the fact of +fluctuation in the period is alone certain. In like manner, Algol's +periods are not quite uniform. All these facts agree with our +suggestion, that the periodical stars are bodies of luminous matter +which have not yet assumed a permanent form; and which, therefore, as +they revolve about their axes, and turn to us their darker and their +brighter parts, do so at intervals, and in an order somewhat variable. +And this suggestion appears to be remarkably confirmed, by a result +which recent observations have discovered relative to this star, Algol; +namely, that its periods become shorter and shorter. For if the luminous +matter, which is thus revolving, be gradually gathering into a more +condensed form;--becoming less rare, or more compact; as, for instance, +it would do, if it were collecting itself from an irregular, or +elongated, into a more spherical form; such a shortening of the period +of revolution would take place; for a mass which contracts while it is +revolving, accelerates its rate of revolution, by mechanical principles. +And thus we do appear to have, in this observed acceleration of the +periods of Algol, an evidence that that luminous mass has not yet +reached its final and permanent condition. + +23. It is true, it has been conjectured, by high authority,[20] that +this accelerated rapidity of the periods of Algol will not continue; but +will gradually relax, and then be changed to an increase; like many +other cyclical combinations in astronomy. But this conjecture seems to +have little to support it. The cases in which an acceleration of motion +is retarded, checked, and restored, all belong to our Solar System; and +to assume that Algol, like the solar system, has assumed a permanent and +balanced condition, is to take for granted precisely the point in +question. We know of no such cycles among the fixed stars, at least with +any certainty; for the cycle proposed for Mira must be considered as +greatly needing confirmation; considering how long is the cycle, and how +recent the suggestion of its existence. + +24. And even in the solar system, we have accelerated motions, in which +no mathematician or astronomer looks for a check or regress of the +acceleration. No one expects that Encke's comet will cease to be +accelerated, and to revolve in periods continually shorter; though all +the other motions hitherto observed in the system are cyclical. In the +case of a fixed star, we have much less reason to look for such a cycle, +than we have in Encke's comet. But further: with regard to the existence +of such a cycle of faster and slower motion in the case of Algol, the +most recent observed facts are strongly against it; for it has been +observed by Argelander, that not only there is a diminution of the +period, but that this diminution proceeds with accelerated rapidity; a +course of events which, in no instance, in the whole of the cosmical +movements, ends in a regression, retardation, and restoration of the +former rate. We are led to believe, therefore, that this remarkable +luminary will go on revolving faster and faster, till its extreme point +of condensation is attained. And in the meantime, we have very strong +reasons to believe that this mutable body is not, like the sun, a +permanent centre of a permanent system; and that any argument drawn from +its supposed likeness to the sun, in favor of the supposition that the +regions which are near it are the seats of habitation, is quite +baseless. + +25. There are other phenomena of the Fixed Stars, and other conjectures +of astronomers respecting them, which I need not notice, as they do not +appear to have any bearing upon our subject. Such are the "proper +motions" of the stars, and the explanation which has been suggested of +some of them; that they arise from the stars revolving round other stars +which are dark, and therefore invisible. Such again is the attempt to +show that the Sun, carrying with it the whole Solar System, is in +motion; and the further attempt to show the direction of this motion; +and again, the hypothesis that the Sun itself revolves round some +distant body in space. These minute inquiries and bold conjectures, as +to the movements of the masses of matter which occupy the universe, do +not throw any light on the question whether any part besides the earth +is inhabited; any more than the investigation of the movements of the +ocean, and of their laws, could prove or disprove the existence of +marine plants and animals. They do not on that account cease to be +important and interesting subjects of speculation; but they do not +belong to our subject. + +26. In Fontenelle's _Dialogues on the Plurality of Worlds_, a work which +may be considered as having given this subject a place in popular +literature, he illustrates his argument by a comparison, which it may be +worth while to look at for a moment. The speaker who asserts that the +moon, the planets, and the stars, are the seats of habitation, describes +the person, who denies this, as resembling a citizen of Paris, who, +seeing from the towers of Notre Dame the town of Saint Denis, (it being +supposed that no communication between the two places had ever +occurred,) denies that it is inhabited, because he cannot see the +inhabitants. Of course the conclusion is easy, if we may thus take for +granted that what he sees is a town. But we may modify this image, so as +to represent our argument more fairly. Let it be supposed that we +inhabit an island, from which innumerable other islands are visible; but +the art of navigation being quite unknown, we are ignorant whether any +of them are inhabited. In some of these islands, are seen masses more or +less resembling churches; and some of our neighbors assert that these +are churches; that churches must be surrounded by houses; and that +houses must have inhabitants. Others hold that the seeming churches are +only peculiar forms of rocks. In this state of the debate, everything +depends upon the degree of resemblance to churches which the forms +exhibit. But suppose that telescopes are invented, and employed with +diligence upon the questionable shapes. In a long course of careful and +skilful examination, no house is seen, and the rocks do not at all +become more like churches, rather the contrary. So far, it would seem, +the probability of inhabitants in the islands is lessened. But there are +other reasons brought into view. Our island is a long extinct volcano, +with a tranquil and fertile soil; but the other islands are apparently +somewhat different. Some of them are active volcanoes, the volcanic +operations covering, so far as we can discern, the whole island; others +undergo changes, such as weather or earthquakes may produce; but in none +of them can we discover such changes as show the hand of man. For these +islands, it would seem the probability of inhabitants is further +lessened. And so long as we have no better materials than these for +forming a judgment, it would, surely, be accounted rash, to assert that +the islands in general are inhabited; and unreasonable, to blame those +who deny or doubt it. Nor would such blame be justified by adducing +theological or _a priori_ arguments; as, that the analogy of island with +island makes the assumption allowable; or that it is inconsistent with +the plan of the Creator of islands to leave them uninhabited. For we +know that many islands are, or were long, uninhabited. And if ours were +an island occupied by a numerous, well-governed, moral, and religious +race, of which the history was known, and of which the relation to the +Creator was connected with its history; the assumption of a history, +more or less similar to ours, for the inhabitants of the other islands, +whose existence was utterly unproved, would, probably, be generally +deemed a fitter field for the romance-writer than for the philosopher. +It could not, at best, rise above the region of vague conjecture. + +27. Fontenelle, in the agreeable book just referred to, says, very +truly, that the formula by which his view is urged on adversaries is, +_Pourquoi non_? which he holds to be a powerful figure of logic. It is, +however, a figure which has this peculiarity, that it may, in most +cases, be used with equal force on either side. When we are asked Why +the Moon, Mercury, Saturn, the system of Sirius, should _not_ be +inhabited by intelligent beings; we may ask, Why the earth in the ages +previous to man might not be so inhabited? The answer would be, that we +have proof _how_ it _was_ inhabited. And as to the fact in the other +case, I shall shortly attempt to give proof that the Moon is certainly +not, and Mercury and Saturn probably not inhabited. With regard to the +Fixed Stars, it is more difficult to reason; because we have the means +of knowing so little of their structure. But in this case also, we might +easily ask on our side, _Pourquoi non_? Why should not the Solar System +be the chief and most complete system in the universe, and the Earth the +principal planet in that System? So far as we yet know, the Sun is the +largest Sun among the stars; and we shall attempt to show, that the +Earth is the largest solid opaque globe in the solar system. Some System +must be the largest and most finished of all; why not ours? Some planet +must be the largest planet; why not the Earth? + +28. It should be recollected that there must be some system which is the +most complete of all systems, some planet which is the largest of all +planets. And if that largest planet, in the most complete system, be, +after being for ages tenanted by irrational creatures, at last, and +alone of all, occupied by a rational race, that race must necessarily +have the power of asking such questions as these: Why they should be +alone rational? Why their planet should be alone thus favored? If the +case be ours, we may hope to be then able to answer these questions, +when we can explain the most certain fact which they involve; Why the +Earth was occupied so long by irrational creatures, before the rational +race was placed upon it? The mere power of asking such questions can +prove or disprove nothing; for it is a power which must equally subsist, +whether the human inhabitants of the earth be or be not the only +rational population which the universe contains. If there be a race thus +favored by the Creator, they must, at that stage of their knowledge in +which man now is, be able to doubt, as man does, of the extent and +greatness of the privilege which they enjoy. + +29. The argument that the Fixed Stars are like the Sun, and therefore +the centres of inhabited systems as the Sun is, is sometimes called an +argument from Analogy; and this word _Analogy_ is urged, as giving great +force to the reasoning. But it must be recollected, that precisely the +point in question is, whether there _is_ an analogy. The stars, it is +said, are like the Sun. In what respects? We know of none, except in +being self-luminous; and this they have in common with the nebulae, +which, as we have seen, are not centres of inhabited systems. Nor does +this quality of being self-luminous at all determine the degree of +condensation of a star. Sirius may be less than a hundredth or a +thousandth of the density of the Sun. But the Stars, it may be further +urged, are like the Sun in turning on their axes. To this we reply, that +we know this only of those stars in which, the very phenomenon which +proves their revolution, proves also that they are unlike the Sun, in +having one side darker than the other. Add to which, their revolution is +not connected with the existence of planets, still less of inhabitants +of planets, in any intelligible manner. The resemblance, therefore, so +far as it bears upon the question, is confined to one single point, in +the highest degree ambiguous and inconclusive; and any argument drawn +from this one point of resemblance, has little claim to be termed an +argument from analogy.[21] + +30. On a subject on which we know so little, it is difficult to present +any view which deserves to be regarded as an analogy. We see, among the +stars, nebulae more or less condensed, which are possibly, in some cases, +stages of a connected progress towards a definite star; and it may be, +to a star with planets in permanent orbits. We see, in our planet, +evidence of successive stages of a connected series of brute animals, +preceded perhaps by various stages of lifeless chaos. If the histories +of the Sun, and of all the stars, are governed by a common analogy, the +nebulous condensation, and the stages of animal life, may be parts of +the same continued series of events; and different stars may be at +different points of that series. But even on this supposition, but a few +of the stars may be the seats of conscious life, and none, of +intelligence. For among the stars which have condensed to a permanent +form, how many have failed in throwing off a permanent planet! How many +may be in some stage of lifeless chaos! We must needs suppose a vast +number of stages between a nebular chaos and the lowest forms of +conscious life. Perhaps as many as there are fixed stars; and far more +than there are of stars which become fertile of life: so that no two +systems may be at the same stage of the planetary progress. And if this +be so,--our system being so complicated, that we must suppose it +peculiarly developed, having the largest Sun that we know of, and our +Earth being (as we shall hereafter attempt to prove) the largest solid +planet that we know of,--this Earth may be the sole seat of the highest +stage of planetary development. + +31. The assumption that there is anything of the nature of a regular law +or order of progress from nebular matter to conscious life,--a law which +extends to all the stars, or to many of them,--is in the highest degree +precarious and unsupported; but since it is sometimes employed in such +speculations as we are pursuing, we may make a remark or two connected +with it. If we suppose, on the planets of other systems, a progress in +some degree analogous to that which geology shows to have occurred on +the Earth, there may be, in those planets, creatures in some way +analogous to our vegetables and animals; but analogy also requires that +they should differ far more from the terrestrial vegetables and animals +of any epoch, than those of one epoch do from those of another; since +they belong to a different stellar system, and probably exist under very +different conditions from any that ever prevailed on the Earth. We are +forbidden, therefore, by analogy, to suppose that on any other planet +there was such an anatomical progression towards the form of man, as we +can discern (according to some eminent physiologists) among the tribes +which have occupied the Earth. Are we to conceive that the creatures on +the planets of other systems are, like the most perfect terrestrial +animals, symmetrical as to right and left, vertebrate, with fore limbs +and hind limbs, heads, organs of sense in their heads, and the like? +Every one can see how rash and fanciful it would be to make such +suppositions. Those who have, in the play of their invention, imagined +inhabitants of other planets, have tried to avoid this servile imitation +of terrestrial forms. Here is Sir Humphry Davy's account of the +inhabitants of Saturn. "I saw moving on the surface below me, immense +masses, the forms of which I find it impossible to describe. They had +systems for locomotion similar to that of the morse or sea-horse, but I +saw with great surprise that they moved from place to place by six +extremely thin membranes, which they used as wings. I saw numerous +convolutions of tubes, more analogous to the trunk of the elephant, than +to anything else I can imagine, occupying what I supposed to be the +upper parts of the body."[22] The attendant Genius informs the narrator, +that though these creatures look like zoophytes, they have a sphere of +sensibility and intellectual enjoyment far superior to that of the +inhabitants of the Earth. If we were to reason upon a work of fancy like +this, we might say, that it was just as easy to ascribe superior +sensibility and intelligence to zoophyte-formed creatures upon the +Earth, as in Saturn. Even fancy cannot aid us in giving consistent form +to the inhabitants of other planets. + +32. But even if we could assent to the opinion, as probable, that there +may occur, on some other planet, progressions of organized forms +analogous in some way to that series of animal forms which has appeared +upon the earth, we should still have no ground to assume that this +series must terminate in a rational and intelligent creature like man. +For the introduction of reason and intelligence upon the Earth is no +part nor consequence of the series of animal forms. It is a fact of an +entirely new kind. The transition from brute to man does not come within +the analogy of the transition from brute to brute. The thread of +analogy, even if it could lead us so far, would break here. We may +conceive analogues to other animals, but we could have no analogue to +man, except man. Man is not merely a higher kind of animal; he is a +creature of a superior order, participating in the attributes of a +higher nature; as we have already said, and as we hope hereafter +further to show. Even, therefore, if we were to assume the general +analogy of the Stars and of the Sun, and were to join to that the +information which geology gives us of the history of our own planet; +though we might, on this precarious path, be led to think of other +planets as peopled with unimagined monsters; we should still find a +chasm in our reasoning, if we tried, in this way, to find intelligent +and rational creatures in planets which may revolve round Sirius or +Arcturus. + +33. The reasonable view of the matter appears to be this. The assumption +that the Fixed Stars are of exactly the same nature as the Sun, was, at +the first, when their vast distance and probable great size were newly +ascertained, a bold guess; to be confirmed or refuted by subsequent +observations and discoveries. Any appearances, tending in any degree to +confirm this guess, would have deserved the most considerate attention. +But there has not been a vestige of any such confirmatory fact. No +planet, nor anything which can fairly be regarded as indicating the +existence of a planet, revolving about a star, has anywhere been +discerned. The discovery of nebulae, of binary systems, of clusters of +stars, of periodical stars, of varying and accelerated periods of such +stars, all seem to point the other way. And if all these facts be held +to be but small in amount, as to the information which they convey, +about the larger, and perhaps nearer stars; still they leave the +original assumption a mere guess, unsupported by all that three +centuries of most diligent, and in other respects successful research, +has been able to bring to light. That Copernicus, that Galileo, that +Kepler, should believe the stars to be Suns, in every sense of the term, +was a natural result of the expansion of thought which their great +discoveries produced, in them and in their contemporaries. Nor are we +yet called upon to withdraw from them our sympathy; or entitled to +contradict their conjecture. But all the knowledge that the succeeding +times have given us; the extreme tenuity of much of the luminous matter +in the skies; the existence of gyratory motion among the stars, quite +different from planetary systems; the absence of any observed motions at +all resembling such systems; the appearance of changes in stars, quite +inconsistent with such permanent systems; the disclosure of the history +of our own planet, as one in which changes have constantly been going +on; the certainty that by far the greater part of the duration of its +existence, it has been tenanted by creatures entirely different from +those which give an interest, and thence, a persuasiveness, to the +belief of inhabitants in worlds appended to each star; the +impossibility, which appears, on the gravest consideration, of +transferring to other worlds such interests as belong to our own race in +this world; all these considerations should, it would seem, have +prevented that old and arbitrary conjecture from growing up, among a +generation professing philosophical caution, and scientific discipline, +into a settled belief. + +34. Some of the moral and theological views which tend to encourage and +uphold this belief, may be taken under our more special consideration +hereafter: but here, where we are reasoning principally upon +astronomical grounds, we may conclude what we have to remark about the +Fixed Stars, as the centres of inhabited systems of worlds, by saying; +that it will be time enough to speculate about the inhabitants of the +planets which belong to such systems, when we have ascertained that +there are such planets, or one such planet. When that is done, we can +then apply to them any reasons which may exist, for believing that all, +or many planets, are the seats of habitation of living things. What +reasons of this kind can be adduced, and what is their force with +regard to our own solar system, we must now proceed to discuss.[23] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Herschel, 866. + +[2] Ibid. 866. + +[3] Herschel, 846. + +[4] Herschel, 848. + +[5] That these systems have not condensed to _one_ centre, appears to +imply a less complete degree of condensation than exists in those +systems which have done so. + +[6] Herschel, 850. + +[7] Herschel, 847. + +[8] The density of the sun is about as great as the density of water. + +[9] Herschel, 827-832. + +[10] _Cosmos_, III. 169, 205, and 641. + +[11] Ibid., III. 172 and 252. + +[12] _Astron. Soc. Notices_, Dec. 13, 1850. + +[13] See Grant's _Hist. of Physical Astronomy_, p. 538. + +[14] I am aware of certain speculations, and especially of some recent +ones, tending to show that even our Sun is wasting away by the emission +of light and heat; but these opinions, even if established, do not much +affect our argument one way or the other. + +[15] Chalmers' _Astron. Disc._ p. 39. + +[16] Hersch. 820. + +[17] The periodical character of this star was discovered by David +Fabricius, a parish priest in East Friesland, the father of John +Fabricius, who discovered the solar spots. (_Cosmos_, III. 234.) + +[18] Hersch. 825. In Humboldt's _Cosmos_, III. 243, Argelander, who has +most carefully observed and studied these periodical stars, has given a +catalogue containing 24, with the most recent determinations of their +periods. + +[19] Hersch. 821. Humboldt (_Cosmos_, III. 238 and 246,) gives the +period as 68 hours 49 minutes, and says that it is 7 or 8 hours in its +less bright state. If we could suppose the times of the warning, and of +the greatest eclipse, given by Herschel, to be exactly determined, as +3-1/2 and 1/4, that is, in the proportion of 14 to 1, the darkening body +must have its effective breadth 14/15 of that of the star. But this is +on the supposition that the orbit of the darkening body has the +spectator's eye in its plane; if this be not so, the darkening body may +be much larger. + +[20] Hersch. _Outl. Astr._ 821. Another explanation of the variable +period of Algol, is that the star is moving towards us, and therefore +the light occupies less and less time to reach us. + +[21] Humboldt, very justly, regards the force of analogy as tending in +the opposite direction. "After all," he asks, (_Cosmos_, III. 373,) "is +the assumption of satellites to the Fixed Stars so absolutely necessary? +If we were to begin from the outer planets, Jupiter, &c., analogy might +seem to require that all planets have satellites. But yet this is not +true for Mars, Venus, Mercury." To which we may further add the +_twenty-three_ Planetoids. In this case there is a much greater number +of bodies which have not satellites, than which have them. + +[22] _Consolations in Travel_. Dial. 1. + +[23] What is said in Art. 15, that in consequence of the time employed +in the transmission of visual impressions, our seeing a star is +evidence, not that it exists now, but that it existed, it may be, many +thousands of years ago; may seem, to some readers, to throw doubts upon +reasonings which we have employed. It may be said that a star which was +a mere chaos, when the light, by which we see it, set out from it, may, +in the thousands of years which have since elapsed, have grown into an +orderly world. To which bare possibility, we may oppose another +supposition at least equally possible:--that the distant stars were +sparks or fragments struck off in the formation of the Solar System, +which are really long since extinct; and survive in appearance, only by +the light which they at first emitted. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE PLANETS. + + +1. When it was discovered, by Copernicus and Galileo, that Mercury, +Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, which had hitherto been regarded only as +"wandering fires, that move in mystic dance," were really, in many +circumstances, bodies resembling the Earth;--that they and the Earth +alike, were opaque globes, revolving about the Sun in orbits nearly +circular, revolving also about their own axes, and some of them +accompanied by their Satellites, as the Earth is by the Moon;--it was +inevitable that the conjecture should arise, that they too had +inhabitants, as the Earth has. Each of these bodies were seemingly +coherent and solid; furnished with an arrangement for producing day and +night, summer and winter; and might therefore, it was naturally +conceived, have inhabitants moving upon its solid surface, and reckoning +their lives and their employment by days, and months, and years. This +was an unavoidable guess. It was far less bold and sweeping than the +guess that there are inhabitants in the region of the Fixed Stars, but +still, like that, it was, for the time at least, only a guess; and like +that, it must depend upon future explorations of these bodies and their +conditions, whether the guess was confirmed or discredited. The +conjecture could not, by any moderately cautious man, be regarded as so +overwhelmingly probable, that it had no need of further proof. Its final +acceptance or rejection must depend on the subsequent progress of +astronomy, and of science in general. + +2. We have to consider then how far subsequent discoveries have given +additional value to this conjecture. And, as, in the first place, +important among such discoveries, we must note the addition of several +new planets to our system. It was found, by the elder Herschel, (in +1781,) that, far beyond Saturn, there was another planet, which, for a +time, was called by the name of its sagacious discoverer; but more +recently, in order to conform the nomenclature of the planets to the +mythology with which they had been so long connected, has been termed +_Uranus_. This was a vast extension of the limits of the solar system. +The Earth is, as we have already said, nearly a hundred millions of +miles from the Sun. Jupiter is at more than five times, and Saturn +nearly at ten times this distance: but Uranus, it was found, describes +an orbit of which the radius is about nineteen times as great as that of +the Earth. But this did not terminate the extension of the solar system +which the progress of astronomy revealed. In 1846, a new planet, still +more remote, was discovered: its existence having been divined, before +it was seen, by two mathematicians, Mr. Adams, of Cambridge, and M. +Leverrier, of Paris, from the effects of its force upon Uranus. This new +planet was termed Neptune: its distance from the Sun is about thirty +times the Earth's distance. Besides these discoveries of large planets, +a great number of small planets were detected in the region of the solar +system which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This series of +discoveries began on the first day of 1801, when Ceres was detected by +Piazzi at Palermo; and has gone on up to the present time, when +twenty-three of these small bodies have been brought to light; and +probably the group is not yet exhausted. + +3. Now if we have to discuss the probability that all these bodies are +inhabited, we may begin with the outermost of them at present known, +namely Neptune. How far is it likely that this globe is occupied by +living creatures which enjoy, like the creatures on the Earth, the light +and heat of the Sun, about which the planet revolves? It is plain, in +the first place, that this light and heat must be very feeble. Since +Neptune is thirty times as far from the sun as the earth is, the +diameter of the sun as seen from Neptune will only be one-thirtieth as +large as it is, seen from the earth. It will, in fact, be reduced to a +mere star. It will be about the diameter under which Jupiter appears +when he is nearest to us. Of course its brightness will be much greater +than that of Jupiter; nearly as much indeed, as the sun is brighter than +the moon, both being nearly of the same size: but still, with our +full-moonlight reduced to the amount of illumination which we receive +from _a full Jupiter_, and our sun-light reduced in nearly the same +proportion, we should have but a dark, and also a cold world. In fact, +the light and the heat which reach Neptune, so far as they depend on the +distance of the sun, will each be about nine hundred times smaller than +they are on the earth. Now are we to conceive animals, with their vital +powers unfolded, and their vital enjoyments cherished, by this amount of +light and heat? Of course, we cannot say, with certainty, that any +feebleness of light and heat are inconsistent with the existence of +animal life: and if we had good reason to believe that Neptune is +inhabited by animals, we might try to conceive in what manner their +vital scheme is accommodated to this scanty supply of heat and light. If +it were certain that they were there, we might inquire how they could +live there, and what manner of creatures they could be. If there were +any general grounds for assuming inhabitants, we might consider what +modifications of life their particular conditions would require. + +4. But is there any such general ground!? Such a ground we should have, +if we could venture to assume that _all_ the bodies of the Solar System +are inhabited;--if we could proceed upon such a principle, we might +reject or postpone the difficulties of particular cases. + +5. But is such an assumption true? Is such a principle well founded? The +best chance which we have of learning whether it is so, is to endeavor +to ascertain the fact, in the body which is nearest to us; and thus, the +best placed for our closer scrutiny. This is, of course, the Moon; and +with regard to the Moon, we have, again, this advantage in beginning the +inquiry with her:--that she, at least, is in circumstances, as to light +and heat, so far as the Sun's distance affects them, which we know to be +quite consistent with animal and vegetable life. For her distance from +the Sun is not appreciably different from that of the Earth; her +revolutions round the earth do not make nearly so great a difference, in +her distance from the sun, as does the earth's different distances from +the sun in summer and in winter: the fact also being, that the earth is +considerably nearer to the sun in the winter of this our northern +hemisphere, than in the summer. The moon's distance from the sun then, +adapts her for habitation: is she inhabited? + +6. The answer to this question, so far as we can answer it, may involve +something more than those mere astronomical conditions, her distance +from the sun, and the nature of her motions. But still, if we are +compelled to answer it in the negative;--if it appear, by strong +evidence, that the Moon is not inhabited; then is there an end of the +general principle, that, _all_ the bodies of the solar system are +inhabited, and that we must begin our speculations about each, with this +assumption. If the Moon be not inhabited, then, it would seem, the +belief that each special body in the system is inhabited, must depend +upon reasons specially belonging to that body; and cannot be taken for +granted without such reasons. Of the two bodies of the solar system +which alone we can examine closely, so as to know anything about them, +the Earth and the Moon, if the one be inhabited, and the other blank of +inhabitants, we have no right to assume at once, that any other body in +the solar system belongs to the former of these classes rather than to +the latter. If, even under terrestrial conditions of light and heat, we +have a total absence of the phenomenon of life, known to us only as a +terrestrial phenomenon; we are surely not entitled to assume that when +these conditions fail, we have still the phenomenon, life. We are not +entitled to _assume_ it; however it may be capable of being afterwards +proved, in any special case, by special reasons; a question afterwards +to be discussed. + +7. Is, then, the Moon inhabited? From the moon's proximity to us, (she +is distant only thirty diameters of the earth, less than ten times the +earth's circumference; a railroad carriage, at its ordinary rate of +travelling, would reach her in a month,) she can be examined by the +astronomer with peculiar advantages. The present powers of the telescope +enable him to examine her mountains as distinctly as he could the Alps +at a few hundred miles distance, with the naked eye; with the additional +advantage that her mountains are much more brilliantly illuminated by +the Sun, and much more favorably placed for examination, than the Alps +are. He can map and model the inequalities of her surface, as faithfully +and exactly as he can those of the surface of Switzerland. He can trace +the streams that seem to have flowed from eruptive orifices over her +plains, as he can the streams of lava from the craters of Etna or Hecla. + +8. Now, this minute examination of the Moon's surface being possible, +and having been made, by many careful and skilful astronomers, what is +the conviction which has been conveyed to their minds, with regard to +the fact of her being the seat of vegetable or animal life? Without +exception, it would seem, they have all been led to the belief, that the +Moon is not inhabited; that she is, so far as life and organization are +concerned, waste and barren, like the streams of lava or of volcanic +ashes on the earth, before any vestige of vegetation has been impressed +upon them: or like the sands of Africa, where no blade of grass finds +root. It is held, by such observers, that they can discern and examine +portions of the moon's surface as small as a square mile;[1] yet, in +their examination, they have never perceived any alteration, such as the +cycle of vegetable changes through the revolutions of seasons would +produce. Sir William Herschel did not doubt that if a change had taken +place on the visible part of the Moon, as great as the growth or the +destruction of a great city, as great, for instance, as the destruction +of London by the great fire of 1666, it would have been perceptible to +his powers of observation. Yet nothing of the kind has ever been +observed. If there were lunar astronomers, as well provided as +terrestrial ones are, with artificial helps of vision, they would +undoubtedly be able to perceive the differences which the progress of +generations brings about on the surface of our globe; the clearing of +the forests of Germany or North America; the embankment of Holland; the +change of the modes of culture which alter the color of the ground in +Europe; the establishment of great nests of manufactures which shroud +portions of the land in smoke, as those which have their centres at +Birmingham or at Manchester. However obscurely they might discern the +nature of those changes, they would still see that change was going on. +And so should we, if the like changes were going on upon the face of the +Moon. Yet no such changes have ever been noticed. Nor even have such +changes been remarked, as might occur in a mere brute mass without +life;--the formation of new streams of lava, new craters, new crevices, +new elevations. The Moon exhibits strong evidences, which strike all +telescopic observers, of an action resembling, in many respects, +volcanic action, by which its present surface has been formed.[2] But, +if it have been produced by such internal fires, the fires seem to be +extinguished; the volcanoes to be burned out. It is a mere cinder; a +collection of sheets of rigid slag, and inactive craters. And if the +Moon and the Earth were both, at first in a condition in which igneous +eruptions from their interior produced the ridges and cones which +roughen their surfaces; the Earth has had this state succeeded by a +series of states of life in innumerable forms, till at last it has +become the dwelling-place of man; while the Moon, smaller in dimensions, +has at an earlier period completely cooled down, as to its exterior at +least, without ever being judged fit or worthy by its Creator of being +the seat of life; and remains, hung in the sky, as an object on which +man may gaze, and perhaps, from which he may learn something of the +constitution of the universe; and among other lessons this; that he must +not take for granted, that all the other globes of the solar system are +tenanted, like that on which he has his appointed place. + +9. It is true, that in coming to this conclusion, the astronomers of +whom I speak, have been governed by other reasons, besides those which I +have mentioned, the absence of any changes, either rapid or slow, +discoverable in the Moon's face. They have seen reason to believe that +water and air, elements so essential to terrestrial life, do not exist +in the Moon. The dark spaces on her disk, which were called _seas_ by +those who first depicted them, have an appearance inconsistent with +their being oceans of water. They are not level and smooth, as water +would be; nor uniform in their color, but marked with permanent streaks +and shades, implying a rigid form. And the absence of an atmosphere of +transparent vapor and air, surrounding the moon, as our atmosphere +surrounds the earth, is still more clearly proved, by the absence of all +the optical effects of such an atmosphere, when stars pass behind the +moon's disk, and by the phenomena which are seen in solar eclipses, when +her solid mass is masked by the Sun.[3] This absence of moisture and air +in the Moon, of course, entirely confirms our previous conclusion, of +the absence of vegetable and animal life; and leaves us, as we have +said, to examine the question for the other bodies, on their special +grounds, without any previous presumption that such life exists. +Undoubtedly the aspect of the case will be different in one feature, +when we see reason to believe that other bodies have an atmosphere; and +if there be in any planet sufficient light and heat, and clouds and +winds, and a due adjustment of the power of gravity, and the strength of +the materials of which organized frames consist, there may be, so far as +we can judge, life of some kind or other. But yet, even in those cases, +we should be led to judge also, by analogy, that the life which they +sustain is more different from the terrestrial life of the present +period of the earth, than that is from the terrestrial life of any +former geological period, in proportion as the conditions of light and +heat, and attraction and density, are more different on any other +planet, than they can have been on the earth, at any period of its +history. + +10. Let us then consider the state of these elements of being in the +other planets. I have mentioned, among them, the force of gravity, and +the density of materials; because these are important elements in the +question. It may seem strange, that we are able, not only to measure the +planets, but to weigh them; yet so it is. The wonderful discovery of +universal gravitation, so firmly established, as the law which embraces +every particle of matter in the solar system, enables us to do this, +with the most perfect confidence. The revolutions of the satellites +round their primary planets, give us a measure of the force by which the +planets retain them in their orbits; and in this way, a measure of the +quantity of matter of which each planet consists. And other effects of +the same universal law, enable us to measure, though less easily and +less exactly, the masses, even of those planets which have no +satellites. And thus we can, as it were, put the Earth, and Jupiter or +Saturn, in the balance against each other; and tell the proportionate +number of pounds which they would weigh, if so poised. And again, by +another kind of experiment, we can, as we have said, weigh the earth +against a known mountain; or even against a small sphere of lead duly +adjusted for the purpose. And this has been done; and the results are +extremely curious; and very important in our speculations relative to +the constitution of the universe. + +11. And in the first place, we may remark that the Earth is really much +less heavy than we should expect, from what we know of the materials of +which it consists. For, measuring the density, or specific gravity, of +materials, (that is their comparative weight in the same bulk,) by their +proportion to water, which is the usual way, the density of iron is 8, +that of lead 11, that of gold 19: the ordinary rocks at the Earth's +surface have a density of 3 or 4. Moreover, all the substances with +which we are acquainted, contract into a smaller space, and have their +density increased, by being subjected to pressure. Air does this, in an +obvious manner; and hence it is, that the lower parts of our atmosphere +are denser than the upper parts; being pressed by a greater +superincumbent weight, the weight of the superior parts of the +atmosphere itself. Air is thus obviously and eminently elastic. But all +substances, though less obviously and eminently, are still, really, and +in some degree, elastic. They all contract by compression. Water for +instance, if pressed by a column of water 100000 feet high, would be +reduced to a bulk one-tenth less than before. In the same manner iron, +compressed by a column of iron 90000 feet high, loses one-tenth of its +bulk, and of course gains so much in density. And the like takes place, +in different amounts, with all material whatever. This is the rate at +which compression produces its effect of increasing the density, in +bodies which are in the condition of those which lie around us. But if +this law were to go on at the same rate, when the compression is +greatly increased, the density of bodies deep down towards the centre of +the Earth must be immense. The Earth's radius is above 20 million feet. +At a million feet depth we should have matter subjected to the pressure +of a column of a million feet of superincumbent matter, heavier than +water; and hence we should have a compression of water 10 times as great +as we have mentioned; and, therefore, the bulk of the water would be +reduced almost to nothing, its density increased almost indefinitely: +and the same would be the case with other materials, as metals and +stones. If, therefore, this law of compression were to hold for these +great pressures, all materials whatever, contained in the depths of the +Earth's mass, must be immensely denser, and immensely specifically +heavier, than they are at the surface. And thus, the Earth consisting of +these far denser materials towards the centre, but, nearer the surface, +of lighter materials, such as rock, and metals, in their ordinary state, +must, we should expect, be, on the whole, much heavier than if it +consisted of the heaviest ordinary materials; heavier than iron, or than +lead; hundreds of times perhaps heavier than stone. + +12. This, however, is not found to be so. The expectation of the great +density of the Earth, which we might have derived from the known laws of +condensation of terrestrial substances, is not confirmed. The mass of +the Earth being weighed, by means of such processes as we have already +referred to, is found to be only five times heavier than so much water: +less heavy than if it were made of iron: less than twice as heavy as if +it were made of ordinary rock. This, of course, shows us that the +condensation of the interior parts of the Earth's mass, is by no means +so great as we should have expected it to be, from what we know of the +laws of condensation here; and from considering the enormous pressure of +superincumbent materials to which those interior parts are subjected. +The laws of condensation, it would seem, do not go on operating for +these enormous pressures, by the same progression as for smaller +pressure. If a mass of a material is compressed into nine-tenths its +bulk by the weight of a column of 100000 feet high, it does not follow +that it will be again compressed into nine-tenths of its condensed bulk, +by another column of 100000 feet high. The compression and condensation +reach, or tend to, a limit; and probably, before they have gone very +far. It may be possible to compress a piece of iron by one-thousandth +part, even by such forces as we can use; and yet it may not be possible +to compress the same piece of iron into one half its bulk, even by the +weight of the whole Earth, if made to bear upon it. This appears to be +probable: and this will explain, how it is, that the materials of the +Earth are not so violently condensed as we should have supposed; and +thus, why, the Earth is so light. + +13. We must avoid drawing inferences too boldly, on a subject where our +means of knowledge are so obscure as they are with regard to the +interior of the Earth; but yet, perhaps, we may be allowed to say, that +the result which we have just stated, that the Earth is so light, +suggests to us the belief that the interior consists of the same +materials as the exterior, slightly condensed by pressure.[4] We find no +encouragement to believe that there is a nucleus within, of some +material, different from what we have on the outside; some metal, for +instance, heavier than lead. If the earth were of granite, or of lava, +to the centre, it would, so far as we can judge, have much the same +weight which it now has. Such a central mass, covered with the various +layers of stone, which form the upper crust of the Earth, would +naturally make this globe of at least the weight which it really has. +And therefore, if we were to learn that a planet was much lighter than +this, as to its materials,--much less dense, taking the whole mass +together,--we should be compelled to infer that it was, throughout, or +nearly so, formed of less compact matter than metal and stone; or else, +that it had internal cavities, or some other complex structure, which it +would be absurd to assume, without positive reasons. + +14. Now having decided these views from an examination of the Earth, let +us apply them to other planets, as bearing upon the question of their +being inhabited; and in the first place, to Jupiter. We can, as we have +said, easily compare the mass of Jupiter and of the Earth; for both of +them have Satellites. It is ascertained, by this means, that the mass of +weight of Jupiter is about 333 times the weight of the earth; but as his +diameter is also 11 times that of the earth, his bulk is 1331 times that +of the earth: (the _cube_ of 11 is 1331); and, therefore, the density of +Jupiter is to that of the earth, only as 333 to 1331, or about 1 to 4. +Thus the density of Jupiter, taken as a whole, is about a quarter of the +earth's density; less than that of any of the stones which form the +crust of the earth; and not much greater than the density of water. +Indeed, it is tolerably certain, that the density of Jupiter is not +greater than it would be, if his entire globe were composed of water; +making allowance for the compression which the interior parts would +suffer by the pressure of those parts superincumbent. We might, +therefore, offer it as a conjecture not quite arbitrary, that Jupiter is +a mere sphere of water. + +15. But is there anything further in the appearance of Jupiter, which +may serve to contradict, or to confirm, this conjecture? There is one +circumstance in Jupiter's form, which is, to say the least, perfectly +consistent with the supposition, that he is a fluid mass; namely, that +he is not an exact sphere, but oblate, like an orange. Such a form is +produced, in a fluid sphere, by a rotation upon its axis. It is +produced, even in a sphere which is (at present at least,) partly solid +and partly fluid; and the oblateness of the earth is accounted for in +this way. But Jupiter, who, while he is much larger than the earth, +revolves much more rapidly, is much more oblate than the earth. His +polar and equatorial diameters are in the proportion of 13 to 14. Now it +is a remarkable circumstance, that this is the amount of oblateness, +which, on mechanical principles, would result from his time of +revolution, if he were entirely fluid, and of the same density +throughout.[5] So far, then, we have some confirmation at least, of his +being composed entirely of some fluid which in its density agrees with +water. + +16. But there are other circumstances in the appearances of Jupiter, +which still further confirm this conjecture of his watery constitution. +His belts,--certain bands of darker and lighter color, which run +parallel to his equator, and which, in some degree, change their form, +and breadth, and place, from time to time,--have been conjectured, by +almost all astronomers, to arise from lines of cloud, alternating with +tracts comparatively clear, and having their direction determined by +currents analogous to our trade-winds, but of a much more steady and +decided character, in consequence of the great rotatory velocity.[6] +Now vapors, supplying the materials of such masses of cloud, would +naturally be raised from such a watery sphere as we have supposed, by +the action of the Sun; would form such lines; and would change their +form from slight causes of irregularity, as the belts are seen to do. +The existence of these lines of cloud does of itself show that there is +much water on Jupiter's surface, and is quite consistent with our +conjecture, that his whole mass is water.[7] + +17. Perhaps some persons may be disposed to doubt whether, if Jupiter +be, as we suppose, merely or principally a mass of water and of vapor, +we are entitled to extend to him the law of universal gravitation, which +is the basis of our speculations. But this doubt may be easily +dismissed. We know that the waters of the earth are affected by +gravitation; not only towards the earth, as shown by their weight, but +towards those distant bodies, the Sun and the Moon; for this gravitation +produces the tides of the ocean. And our atmosphere also has weight, as +we know; and probably has also solar and lunar tides, though these are +marked by many other causes of diurnal change. We have, then, the same +reason for supposing that air and water, in other parts of the system, +are governed by universal gravitation, and exercise themselves the +attractive force of gravitation, which we have for making the like +suppositions with regard to the most solid bodies. Whatever argument +proves universal gravitation, proves it for all matter alike; and +Newton, in the course of his magnificent generalization of the law, took +care to demonstrate, by experiment, as well as by reasoning, that it +might be so generalized. + +18. As bearing upon the question of life in Jupiter, there is another +point which requires to be considered; the force of gravity at his +surface. Though, equal bulk for equal bulk, he is lighter than the +earth, yet his bulk is so great that, as we have seen, he is altogether +much heavier than the earth. This, his greater mass, makes bodies, at +equal distances from the centres, ponderate proportionally more to him +than they would do to the earth. And though his surface is 11 times +further from his centre than the earth's is, and therefore the gravity +at the surface is thereby diminished, yet, even after this deduction, +gravity at the surface of Jupiter is nearly two and a half times that on +the earth.[8] And thus a man transferred to the surface of Jupiter would +feel a stone, carried in his hands, and would feel his own limbs also, +(for his muscular power would not be altered by the transfer,) become +2-1/2 times as heavy, as difficult to raise, as they were before. Under +such circumstances animals of large dimensions would be oppressed with +their own weight. In the smaller creatures on the earth, as in insects, +the muscular power bears a great proportion to the weight, and they +might continue to run and to leap, even if gravity were tripled or +quadrupled. But an elephant could not trot with two or three elephants +placed upon his back. A lion or tiger could not spring, with twice or +thrice his own weight hung about his neck. Such an increase of gravity +would be inconsistent then, with the present constitution and life of +the largest terrestrial animals; and if we are to suppose planets +inhabited, in which gravity is much more energetic than it is upon the +earth, we must suppose classes of animals which are adapted to such a +different mechanical condition. + +19. Taking into account then, these circumstances in Jupiter's state; +his (probably) bottomless waters; his light, if any, solid materials; +the strong hand with which gravity presses down such materials as there +are; the small amount of light and heat which reaches him, at 5 times +the earth's distance from the sun; what kind of inhabitants shall we be +led to assign to him? Can they have skeletons where no substance so +dense as bone is found, at least in large masses? It would seem not +probable.[9] And it would seem they must be dwellers in the waters, for +against the existence there of solid land, we have much evidence. They +must, with so little of light and heat, have a low degree of vitality. +They must then, it would seem, be cartilaginous and glutinous masses; +peopling the waters with minute forms: perhaps also with larger +monsters; for the weight of a bulky creature, floating in the fluid, +would be much more easily sustained than on solid ground. If we are +resolved to have such a population, and that they shall live by food, we +must suppose that the waters contain at least so much solid matter as is +requisite for the sustenance of the lowest classes; for the higher +classes of animals will probably find their food in consuming the lower. +I do not know whether the advocates of peopled worlds will think such a +population as this worth contending for: but I think the only doubt can +be, between such a population, and none. If Jupiter be a mere mass of +water, with perhaps a few cinders at the centre, and an envelope of +clouds around it, it seems very possible that he may not be the seat of +life at all. But if life be there, it does not seem in any way likely, +that the living things can be anything higher in the scale of being, +than such boneless, watery, pulpy creatures as I have imagined. + +20. Perhaps it may occur to some one to ask, if this planet, which +presents so glorious an aspect to our eyes, be thus the abode only of +such imperfect and embryotic lumps of vitality as I have described; to +what purpose was all that gorgeous array of satellites appended to him, +which would present, to intelligent spectators on his surface, a +spectacle far more splendid than any that our skies offer to us: four +moons, some as great, and others hardly less, than our moon, performing +their regular revolutions in the vault of heaven. To which it will +suffice, at present, to reply, that the use of those moons, under such a +supposition, would be precisely the same, as the use of our moon, during +the myriads of years which elapsed while the earth was tenanted by +corals and madrepores, shell-fish and belemnites, the cartilaginous +fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, or the Saurian monsters of the Lias; +and in short, through all the countless ages which elapsed, before the +last few thousand years: before man was placed upon the earth "to eye +the blue vault and bless the _useful_ light:" to reckon by it his months +and years: to discover by means of it, the structure of the universe, +and perhaps, the special care of his Creator for him alone of all his +creatures. The moons of Jupiter, may in this way be of use, as our own +moon is. Indeed we know that they have been turned to most important +purposes, in astronomy and navigation. And knowing this, we may be +content not to know how, either the satellites of Jupiter, or the +satellite of the Earth, tend to the advantage of the brute inhabitants +of the waters. + +21. There is another point, connected with this doctrine of the watery +nature of Jupiter, which I may notice, though we have little means of +knowledge on the subject. Jupiter being thus covered with water, is the +water ever converted into ice? The planet is more than 5 times as far +from the sun as the earth is: the heat which he receives is, on that +account, 25 times less than ours. The veil of clouds which covers a +large part of his surface, must diminish the heat still further. What +effect the absence of land produces, on the freezing of the ocean, it is +not easy to say. We cannot, therefore, pronounce with any confidence +whether his waters are ever frozen or not. In the next considerable +planet, Mars, astronomers conceive that they do trace the effects of +frost; but in Mars we have also appearances of land. In Jupiter, we are +left to mere conjecture; whether continents and floating islands of ice +still further chill the fluids of the slimy tribes whom we have been led +to regard as the only possible inhabitants; or whether the watery globe +is converted into a globe of ice; retaining on its surface, of course, +as much fluid as is requisite, under the evaporating power of the sun, +to supply the currents of vapor which form the belts. In this case, +perhaps, we may think it most likely that there are no inhabitants of +these shallow pools in a planet of ice: at any rate, it is not worth +while to provide any new speculations for such a hypothesis. + +22. We may turn our consideration from Jupiter to Saturn; for in many +respects the two planets are very similar. But in almost every point, +which is of force against the hypothesis of inhabitants, the case is +much stronger in Saturn than it is in Jupiter. Light and heat, at his +distance, are only one ninetieth of those at the Earth. None but a very +low degree of vitality can be sustained under such sluggish influences. +The density of his mass is hardly greater than that of cork; much less +than that of water: so that, it does not appear what supposition is left +for us, except that a large portion of the globe, which we see as his, +is vapor. That the outer part of the globe is vapor, is proved, in +Saturn as in Jupiter, by the existence of several cloudy streaks or +belts running round him parallel to his equator. Yet his mass, taken +altogether, is considerable, on account of his great size; and gravity +would be greater, at his outer surface, than it is at the earth's. For +such reasons, then, as were urged in the case of Jupiter, we must either +suppose that he has no inhabitants; or that they are aqueous, gelatinous +creatures; too sluggish, almost to be deemed alive, floating on their +ice-cold waters, shrouded forever by their humid skies. + +23. Whether they have eyes or no, we cannot tell; but probably if they +had, they would never see the Sun; and therefore we need not commiserate +their lot in not seeing the host of Saturnian satellites; and the Ring, +which to an intelligent Saturnian spectator, would be so splendid a +celestial object. The Ring is a glorious object for man's view, and his +contemplation; and therefore is not altogether without its use. Still +less need we (as some appear to do) regard as a serious misfortune to +the inhabitants of certain regions of the planet, a solar eclipse of +fifteen years' duration, to which they are liable by the interposition +of the Ring between them and the Sun.[10] + +24. The cases of Uranus and Neptune are similar to that of Saturn, but +of course stronger, in proportion to their smaller light and heat. For +Uranus, this is only 1-360th, for Neptune, as we have already said, +1-900th of the light and heat at the earth. Moreover, these two new +planets agree with Jupiter and with Saturn, in being of very large size +and of very small density; and also we may remark, one of them, probably +both, in revolving with great rapidity, and in nearly the same period, +namely, about 10 hours: at least, this has been the opinion of +astronomers with regard to Uranus. The arguments against the hypothesis +of these two planets being inhabited, are of course of the same kind as +in the case of Jupiter and Saturn, but much increased in strength; and +the supposition of the probably watery nature and low vitality of their +inhabitants must be commended to the consideration of those who contend +for inhabitants in those remote regions of the solar system. + +25. We may now return towards the Sun, and direct our attention to the +planet Mars. Here we have some approximation to the condition of the +Earth, in circumstances, as in position. It is true, his light and heat, +so far as distance from the Sun affects them, are less than half those +at the Earth. His density appears to be nearly equal to that of the +Earth, but his mass is so much smaller, that gravity at his surface is +only one-half of what it is here. Then, as to his physical condition, +so far as we can determine it, astronomers discern in his face[11] the +outlines of continents and seas. The ruddy color by which he is +distinguished, the red and fiery aspect which he presents, arise, they +think, from the color of the land, while the seas appear greenish. +Clouds often seem to intercept the astronomer's view of the globe, which +with its continents and oceans thus revolves under his eye; and that +there is an atmosphere on which such clouds may float, appears to be +further proved, by brilliant white spots at the poles of the planet, +which are conjectured to be snow; for they disappear when they have been +long exposed to the sun, and are greatest when just emerging from the +long night of their polar winter; the snow-line then extending to about +six degrees (reckoned upon the meridian of the planet) from the pole. +Moreover, Mars agrees with the earth, in the period of his rotation; +which is about 24 hours; and in having his axis inclined to his orbit, +so as to produce a cycle of long and short days and nights, a return of +summer and winter, in every revolution of the planet. + +26. We have here a number of circumstances which speak far more +persuasively for a similarity of condition, in this planet and the +Earth, than in any of the cases previously discussed. It is true, Mars +is much smaller than the earth, and has not been judged worthy of the +attendance of a satellite, although further from the Sun; but still, he +may have been judged worthy of inhabitants by his Creator. Perhaps we +are not quite certain about the existence of an atmosphere; and without +such an appendage, we can hardly accord him tenants. But if he have +inhabitants, let us consider of what kind they must be conceived to be, +according to any judgment which we can form. The force of his gravity is +so small, that we may allow his animals to be large, without fearing +that they will break down by their own weight. In a planet so dense, +they may very likely have solid skeletons. The ice about his poles will +cumber the seas, cold even for the want of solar heat, as it does in our +arctic and antarctic oceans; and we may easily imagine that these seas +are tenanted, like those, by huge creatures of the nature of whales and +seals, and by other creatures which the existence of these requires and +implies. Or rather, since, as we have said, we must suppose the +population of other planets to be more different from our existing +population, than the population of other ages of our own planet, we may +suppose the population of the seas and of the land of Mars, (if there be +any, and if we are not carrying it too high in the scale of vital +activity,) to differ from any terrestrial animals, in something of the +same way in which the great land and sea saurians, or the iguanodon and +dinotherium, differed from the animals which now live on the earth. + +27. That we need not discuss the question, whether there are intelligent +beings living on the surface of Mars, perhaps the reader will allow, +till we have some better evidence that there are living things there at +all; if he calls to mind the immense proportion which, on the earth, far +better fitted for the habitation of the only intelligent creature which +we know or can conceive, the duration of unintelligent life has borne to +that of intelligent. Here, on this Earth, a few thousand years ago, +began the life of a creature who can speculate about the past and the +future, the near and the absent, the Universe and its Maker, duty and +immortality. This began a few thousand years ago, after ages and myriads +of ages, after immense varieties of lives and generations, of corals and +mollusks, saurians, iguanodons, and dinotheriums. No doubt the Creator +might place an intelligent creature upon a planet, without all this +preparation, all this preliminary life. He has not chosen to do so on +the earth, as we know; and that is by much the best evidence attainable +by us, of what His purposes are. It is also possible that He should, on +another planet, have established creatures of the nature of corals and +mollusks, saurians and iguanodons, without having yet arrived at the +period of intelligent creatures: especially if that other planet have +longer years, a colder climate, a smaller mass, and perhaps no +atmosphere. It is also possible that He should have put that smaller +planet near the Earth, resembling it in some respects, as the Moon does, +but without any inhabitants, as she has none; and that Mars may be such +a planet. The probability against such a belief can hardly be considered +as strong, if the arguments already offered be regarded as effective +against the opinion of inhabitants in the other planets, and in the +Moon. + +28. The numerous tribe of small bodies, which revolve between Jupiter +and Mars, do not admit of much of the kind of reasoning, which we have +applied to the larger planets. They have, with perhaps one exception +(Vesta) no disk of visible magnitude; they are mere dots, and we do not +even know that their form is spherical. The near coincidence of their +orbits has suggested, to astronomers, the conjecture that they have +resulted from the explosion of a larger body, and from its fracture into +fragments. Perhaps the general phenomena of the universe suggest rather +the notion of a collapse of portions of sidereal matter, than of a +sudden disruption and dispersion of any portion of it; and these small +bodies may be the results of some imperfectly effected concentration of +the elements of our system; which, if it had gone on more completely and +regularly, might have produced another planet, like Mars or Venus. +Perhaps they are only the larger masses, among a great number of smaller +ones, resulting from such a process: and it is very conceivable, that +the meteoric stones which, from time to time, have fallen upon the +earth's surface, are other results of the like process:--bits of planets +which have failed in the making, and lost their way, till arrested by +the resistance of the earth's atmosphere. A remarkable circumstance in +these bodies is, that though thus coming apparently from some remote +part of the system, they contain no elements but such as had already +been found to exist in the mass of the earth; although some substances, +as nickel and chrome, which are somewhat rare in the earth's materials, +are common parts of the composition of meteoric stones. Also they are of +crystalline structure, and exhibit some peculiarities in their +crystallization. Such as these strange visitors are, they seem to show +that the other parts of the solar system contain the same elementary +substances, and are subject to the same laws of chemical synthesis and +crystalline force, which obtain in the terrestrial region. The smallness +of these specimens is a necessary condition of their reaching us; for if +they had been more massive, they would have followed out the path of +their orbits round the sun, however eccentric these might be. The great +eccentricity of the smaller planets, their great deviation from the +zodiacal path, which is the highway of the large planets, their great +number, probably by no means yet exhausted by the discoveries of +astronomers; all fall in with the supposition that there are, in the +solar system, a vast multitude of such abnormal planetoidal lumps. As I +have said, we do not even know that they are approximately spherical; +and if they are of the nature of meteoric stones, they are mere crude +and irregularly crystallized masses of metal and earth. It will +therefore, probably, be deemed unnecessary to give other reasons why +these planetoids are not inhabited. But if it be granted that they are +not, we have here, in addition to the moon, a large array of examples, +to prove how baseless is the assumption, that all the bodies of the +solar system are the seats of life. + +29. We have thus performed our journey from the extremest verge of the +Universe, so far as we have any knowledge of it, to the orbit of our own +planet; and have found, till we came into our own most immediate +vicinity, strong reasons for rejecting the assumption of inhabited +worlds like our own; and indeed, of the habitation of worlds in any +sense. And even if Mars, in his present condition, may be some image of +the Earth, in some of its remote geological periods, it is at least +equally possible that he may be an image of the Earth, in the still +remoter geological period before life began. Of peculiar fitnesses which +make the earth suited to the sustentation of life, as we know that it +is, we shall speak hereafter; and at present pass on to the other +planets, Venus and Mercury. But of these, there is, in our point of +view, very little to say. Venus, which, when nearest to us, fills a +larger angle than any other celestial body, except the Sun and the Moon, +might be expected to be the one of which we know most. Yet she is really +one of the most difficult to scrutinize with our telescopes. Astronomers +cannot discover in her, as in Mars, any traces of continents and seas, +mountains and valleys; at least with any certainty.[12] Her illuminated +part shines with an intense lustre which dazzles the sight;[13] yet she +is of herself perfectly dark; and it was the discovery, that she +presented the phases of the Moon, made by the telescope of Galileo, +which gave the first impulse to planetary research. She is almost as +large as the earth; almost as heavy. The light and heat which she +receives from the Sun must be about double those which come to the +earth. We discern no traces of a gaseous or watery atmosphere +surrounding her. Perhaps if we could see her better, we might find that +she had a surface like the moon; or perhaps, in the nearer neighborhood +of the sun, she may have cooled more slowly and quietly, like a glass +which is annealed in the fire; and hence, may have a smooth surface, +instead of the furrowed and pimpled visage which the Moon presents to +us. With this ignorance of her conditions, it is hard to say what kind +of animals we could place in her, if we were disposed to people her +surface; except perhaps the microscopic creatures, with siliceous +coverings, which, as modern explorers assert, are almost indestructible +by heat. To believe that she has a surface like the earth, and tribes of +animals, like terrestrial animals, and like man, is an exercise of +imagination, which not only is quite gratuitous, but contrary to all the +information which the telescope gives us; and with this remark, we may +dismiss the hypothesis. + +30. Of Mercury we know still less. He receives seven times as much light +and heat as the Earth; is much smaller than the earth, but perhaps more +dense; and has not, so far as we can tell, any of the conditions which +make animal existence conceivable. If it is so difficult to find +suitable inhabitants for Venus, the difficulty for Mercury is immensely +greater. + +31. So far then, we have traversed the Solar System, and have found even +here, the strongest grounds that there can be no animal existence, like +that which alone we can conceive as animal existence, except in the +planet next beyond the earth, Mars; and there, not without great +modifications. But we may make some further remarks on the condition of +the several planets, with regard to what appears to us to be the +necessary elements of animal life. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] More recently, at the meeting of the British Association in +September, 1853, Professor Phillips has declared, that astronomers can +discern the shape of a spot on the Moon's surface, which is a few +hundred feet in breadth. + +[2] A person visiting the Eifel, a region of extinct volcanoes, west of +the Rhine, can hardly fail to be struck with the resemblance of the +craters there, to those seen in the moon through a telescope. + +[3] Bessel has discussed and refuted (it was hardly necessary) the +conjecture of some persons (he describes them as "the feeling hearts who +would find sympathy even in the Moon") that there may be in the Moon's +valleys air enough to support life, though it does not rise above the +hills.--_Populaere Vorlesungen_, p. 78. + +[4] The doctrine that the interior nucleus of the Earth is fluid, +whether accepted or rejected, does not materially affect this argument. +It appears, that in some cases, at least, the melting of substances is +prevented, by their being subjected to extreme pressure; but the +density, the element from which we reason, is measured by methods quite +independent of such questions. + +[5] Herschel, 512. Bessel, however, holds that the oblateness of Jupiter +proves that his interior is somewhat denser than his exterior. _Pop. +Vorles._ p. 91. + +[6] Herschel, 513. + +[7] A difficulty may be raised, founded on what we may suppose to be the +fact, as to the extreme cold of those regions of the Solar System. It +may be supposed that water under such a temperature could exist in no +other form than ice. And that the cold must there be intense, according +to our notion, there is strong reason to believe. Even in the outer +regions of our atmosphere, the cold is probably very many degrees below +freezing, and in the blank and airless void beyond, it may be colder +still. It has been calculated by physical philosophers, on grounds which +seem to be solid, that the cold of the space beyond our atmosphere is +100 deg. below zero. The space near to Jupiter, if an absolute vacuum, in +which there is no matter to receive and retain heat emitted from the +Sun, may, perhaps, be no colder than it is nearer the Sun. And as to the +effect the great cold would produce on Jupiter's watery material, we may +remark, that if there be a free surface, there will be vapor produced by +the Sun's heat; and if there be air, there will be clouds. We may add, +that so far as we have reason to believe, below the freezing point, no +accession of cold produces any material change in ice. Even in the +expeditions of our Arctic navigators, a cold of 40 deg. below zero was +experienced, and ice was still but ice, and there were vapors and clouds +as in our climate. It is quite an arbitrary assumption, to suppose that +any cold which may exist in Jupiter would prevent the state of things +which we suppose. + +[8] Herschel, 508. + +[9] It may be thought fanciful to suppose that because there is little +or no solid matter (of any kind known to us) in Jupiter, his animals are +not likely to have solid skeletons. The analogy is not very strong; but +also, the weight assigned to it in the argument is small. _Valeat +quantum valere debet._ + +[10] Herschel, 522. + +[11] Herschel, 510. + +[12] According to Bessel, Schroeter _once_ saw one bright point on the +dark ground, near the boundary of light in Venus. This was taken as +proving a mountain, estimated at 60,000 feet high. _Pop. Vorles._ p. 86. + +[13] Herschel, 509. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THEORY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. + + +1. We have given our views respecting the various planets which +constitute the Solar System;--views established, it would seem, by all +that we know, of the laws of heat and moisture, density and attraction, +organization and life. We have examined and reasoned upon the cases of +the different planets separately. But it may serve to confirm this view, +and to establish it in the reader's mind, if we give a description of +the system which shall combine and connect the views which we have +presented, of the constitution and peculiarities, as to physical +circumstances, of each of the planets. It will help us in our +speculations, if we can regard the planets not only as a collection, but +as a scheme;--if we can give, not an enumeration only, but a theory. Now +such a scheme, such a theory, appears to offer itself to us. + +2. The planets exterior to Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn especially, as the +best known of them, appear, by the best judgment which we can form, to +be spheres of water, and of aqueous vapor, combined, it may be, with +atmospheric air, in which their cloudy belts float over their deep +oceans. Mars seems to have some portion at least of aqueous atmosphere; +the earth, we know, has a considerable atmosphere of air, and of vapor; +but the Moon, so near to her mistress, has none. On Venus and Mercury, +we see nothing of a gaseous or aqueous atmosphere; and they, and Mars, +do not differ much in their density from the Earth. Now, does not this +look as if the water and the vapor, which belong to the solar system, +were driven off into the outer regions of its vast circuit; while the +solid masses which are nearest to the focus of heat, are all +approximately of the same nature? And if this be so, what is the +peculiar physical condition which we are led to ascribe to the Earth? +Plainly this: that she is situated just in that region of the system, +where the existence of matter, both in a solid, a fluid, and a gaseous +condition, is possible. Outside the Earth's orbit, or at least outside +Mars and the small Planetoids, there is, in the planets, apparently, no +solid matter; or rather, if there be, there is a vast preponderance of +watery and vaporous matter. Inside the Earth's orbit, we see, in the +planets, no traces of water or vapor, or gas; but solid matter, about +the density of terrestrial matter. The Earth, alone, is placed at the +border where the conditions of life are combined; ground to stand upon; +air to breathe; water to nourish vegetables, and thus, animals; and +solid matter to supply the materials for their more solid parts; and +with this, a due supply of light and heat, a due energy of the force of +weight. All these conditions are, in our conception, requisite for life: +that all these conditions meet, elsewhere than in the neighborhood of +the Earth's orbit, we see strong reasons to disbelieve. The Earth, then, +it would seem, is the abode of life, not because all the globes which +revolve round the Sun may be assumed to be the abodes of life; but +because the Earth is fitted to be so, by a curious and complex +combination of properties and relations, which do not at all apply to +the others. That the Earth is inhabited, is not a reason for believing +that the other Planets are so, but for believing that they are not so. + +3. Can we see any physical reason, for the fact which appears to us so +probable, that all the water and vapor of the system is gathered in its +outward parts? It would seem that we can. Water and aqueous vapor are +driven from the Sun to the outer parts of the solar system, or are +allowed to be permanent there only, as they are driven off and retained +at a distance by any other source of heat;--to use a homely +illustration, as they are driven from wet objects placed near the +kitchen-fire: as they are driven from the hot sands of Egypt into the +upper air: as they are driven from the tropics to the poles. In this +latter case, and generally, in all cases, in which vapor is thus driven +from a hotter region, when it comes into a colder, it may again be +condensed in water, and fall in rain. So the cold of the air in the +temperate zone condenses the aqueous vapors which flow from the tropics; +and so, we have our clouds and our showers. And as there is this rainy +region, indistinctly defined, between the torrid and the frigid zones on +the earth; so is there a region of clouds and rain, of air and water, +much more precisely defined, in the solar system, between the central +torrid zone and the external frigid zone which surrounds the Sun at a +greater distance. + +4. _The Earth's Orbit is the Temperate Zone of the Solar System._ In +that Zone only is the play of Hot and Cold, of Moist and Dry, possible. +The Torrid Zone of the Earth is not free from moisture; it has its +rains, for it has its upper colder atmosphere. But how much hotter are +Venus and Mercury than the Torrid Zone? There, no vapors can linger; +they are expelled by the fierce solar energy; and there is no cool +stratum to catch them and return them. If they were there, they must fly +to the outer regions; to the cold abodes of Jupiter and Saturn, if on +their way, the Earth did not with cold and airy finger outstretched +afar, catch a few drops of their treasures, for the use of plant, and +beast, and man. The solid stone only, and the metallic ore which can be +fused and solidified with little loss of substance, can bear the +continual force of the near solar fire, and be the material of permanent +solid planets in that region. But the lava pavement of the Inner Planets +bears no superstructure of life; for all life would be scorched away +along with water, its first element. On the Earth first, can this +superstructure be raised; and there, through we know not what graduation +of forms, the waters were made to bring forth abundantly things that had +life; plants, and animals nourished by plants, and conspiring with them, +to feed on their respective appointed elements, in the air which +surrounded them. And so, nourished by the influences of air and water, +plants and animals lived and died, and were entombed in the scourings of +the land, which the descending streams carried to the bottom of the +waters. And then, these beds of dead generations were raised into +mountain ranges; perhaps by the yet unextinguished forces of +subterraneous fires. And then a new creation of plants and animals +succeeded; still living under the fostering influence of the united +pair, Air and Water, which never ceased to brood over the World of Life, +their Nurseling; and then, perhaps, a new change of the limits of land +and water, and a new creation again: till at last, Man was placed upon +the Earth; with far higher powers, and far different purposes, from any +of the preceding tribes of creatures: and with this, for one of his +offices;--that there might be an intelligent being to learn how +wonderfully the scheme of creation had been carried on, and to admire, +and to worship the Creator. + +5. But we have a few more remarks to make on the structure of the Solar +System, in this point of view. When we say that the water and vapor of +the System were driven to the outer parts, or retained there, by the +central heat of the Sun, perhaps it might be supposed to be most simple +and natural, that the aqueous vapor, and the water, should assume its +place in a distinct circle, or rather a spherical shell, of which the +Sun was the centre; thus making an elemental sphere about the centre, +such as the ancients imagined in their schemes of the Universe. Nor will +we venture to say that such an arrangement of elements might not be; +though perhaps it might be shown that no stable equilibrium of the +system would be, in this way, mechanically possible. But this at least +we may say; that a rotatory motion of all the parts of the universe +appears to be a universal law prevalent in it, so far as our observation +can reach: and that, by such rotation of the separate masses, the whole +is put in a condition which is everywhere one of stable equilibrium. It +was, then, agreeable to the general scheme, that the excess of water and +vapor, which must necessarily be carried away, or stored up, in the +outer regions of the System, should be put into shapes in which it +should have a permanent place and form. And thus, it is suitable to the +general economy of creation, that this water and vapor should be packed +into rotating masses, such as are Jupiter and Saturn, Uranus and +Neptune. When once collected in such rotating masses, the attraction of +its parts would gather it into spheroidal forms; oblate by the effect of +rotation, as Jupiter, or perhaps into annular forms, like the Ring of +Saturn;[1] for such also is a mechanically possible form of equilibrium, +for a fluid mass. And these spheroids once formed, the water would form +a central nucleus, over which would hang a cover of vapor, raised by +the evaporating power of the Sun, and forming clouds, where the rarity +of the upper strata of vapor allowed the cold of the external space to +act; and these clouds, spun into belts by the rotation of the sphere. +And thus, the vapor, which would otherwise have wandered loose about the +atmosphere, was neatly wound into balls; which, again, were kept in +their due place, by being made to revolve in nearly circular orbits +about the Sun. + +6. And thus, according to our view, water and gases, clouds and vapors, +form mainly the planets in the outer part of the solar system; while +masses such as result from the fusion of the most solid materials, lie +nearer the sun, and are found principally within the orbit of +Jupiter.[2] To conceive planetary systems as formed by the gradual +contraction of a nebular mass, and by the solidification of some of its +parts, is a favorite notion of several speculators. If we adopt this +notion, we shall, I think, find additional proofs in favor of our view +of the system. For, in the first place, we have the zodiacal light, a +nebulous appendage to the Sun, as Herschel conceives, extending beyond +the orbits of Mercury and Venus. These planets, then, have not yet fully +emerged from the atmosphere in which they had their origin:--the +_mother-light_ and _mother-fire_, in which they began to crystallize, as +crystals do in their mother-water. Though they are already opaque, they +are still immersed in luminous vapor: and bearing such traces of their +chaotic state being not yet ended, we need not wonder, if we find no +evidence of their having inhabitants, and some evidence to the contrary. +They are within a nebular region, which may easily be conceived to be +uninhabitable. And where this nebular region, marked by the zodiacal +light, terminates, the world of life begins, namely at the Earth. + +7. But further, outside this region of the Earth, what do we find in the +solar system? Of solid matter, if our views are right, we find nothing +but an immense number of small bodies; namely, first, Mars, who, as we +have said, is only about one-eighth the earth in mass: the twenty-six +small planetoids, (or whatever number may have been discovered when +these pages meet the reader's eye,[3]) between Mars and Jupiter; the +four satellites of Jupiter; the eight satellites of Saturn; the six (if +that be the true number,) satellites of Uranus; and the one satellite of +Neptune, already detected. It is very remarkable, that all this array of +small bodies begins to be found just outside the Earth's orbit. +Supposing, as we have found so much reason to suppose, that Jupiter, and +the other exterior planets, are not solid bodies, but masses of water +and of vapor; the existence of great solid planetary masses, such as +exist in the region of the Earth's orbit, is succeeded externally by the +existence of a vast number of smaller bodies. The real quantity of +matter in these smaller bodies we cannot in general determine. Perhaps +the largest of them, (after Mars,) may be Jupiter's third satellite; +which[4] is reckoned, by Laplace, to have a mass less than 1-10,000th of +that of Jupiter himself; and thus, since Jupiter, as we have seen, has a +mass 333 times that of the Earth, the satellite would be above 1-30th of +the Earth's mass.[5] That none but masses of this size, and many far +below this, are found outside of Mars, appears to indicate, that the +_planet-making_ powers which were efficacious to this distance from the +sun, and which produced the great globe of the Earth, were, beyond this +point, feebler; so that they could only give birth to smaller masses; to +planetoids, to satellites, and to meteoric stones. Perhaps we may +describe this want of energy in the planet-making power, by saying, that +at so great a distance from the central fire, there was not heat enough +to melt together these smaller fragments into a larger globe;[6] or +rather, when they existed in a nebular, perhaps in a gaseous state, that +there was not heat enough to keep them in that state, till the +attraction of the parts of all of them had drawn them into one mass, +which might afterwards solidify into a single globe. The tendency of +nebular matter to separate into distinct portions, which may afterwards +be more and more detached from each other, so as to break the nebulous +light into patches and specks, appears to be seen in the structure of +the resolvable nebulae, as we have already had occasion to notice. And +according to the view we are now taking, we may conceive such patches, +by further cooling and concentration, to remain luminous as comets, and +perhaps shooting stars; or to become opaque as planets, planetoids, +satellites, or meteoric stones. And here we may call to mind what we +have already said, that the meteoric stones consist of the same elements +as those of the earth, combined by the same laws; and thus appear to +bring us a message from the other solid planets, that they also have the +same elements and the same chemical forces as the earth has. + +8. It has already been supposed, by many astronomers, that shooting +stars, and meteoric stones, are bodies of connected nature and origin; +and that they are cosmical, not terrestrial bodies;--parts of the solar +system, not merely appendages to the earth. It has been conceived, that +the luminous masses, which appear as shooting stars, when they are +without the sphere of terrestrial influences, may, when they reach our +atmosphere, collapse into such solid lumps as have from time to time +fallen upon the earth's surface: many of them, with such sudden +manifestations of light and heat, as implied some rapid change taking +place in their chemical constitution and consistence. If shooting stars +are of this nature, then, in those cases in which a great number of them +appear in close succession, we have evidence that there is a region in +which there is a large collection of matter of a nebulous kind, +collected already into small clouds, and ready, by any additional touch +of the powers that hover round the earth, to be further consolidated +into planetary matter. That the earth's orbit carries her through such +regions, in her annual course, we have evidence, in the curious fact, +now so repeatedly observed, of showers of shooting stars, seen at +particular seasons of every year; especially about the 13th of November, +and the 10th of August. This phenomenon has been held, most reasonably, +to imply that at those periods of the year, the earth passes through a +crowd of such meteor-planets, which form a ring round the sun; and +revolving round him, like the other planets, retain their place in the +system from year to year.[7] It may be that the orbits of these +meteor-planets are very elliptical. That they are to a certain extent +elliptical, appears to be shown, by our falling in with them only once a +year, not every half year, as we should do, if their orbit, being nearly +circular, met the earth's orbit in two opposite points. That the +shooting stars, thus seen in great numbers when the earth is at certain +points of her orbit, are really planetoidal bodies, appears to be +further proved by this;--that they all seem to move nearly in the same +direction.[8] They are, each of them, visible for a short time only, +(indeed commonly only for a few seconds), while they are nearest the +earth; much in the same way in which a comet is visible only for a small +portion of its path: and this portion is described in a short time, +because they move near the earth. They are so small that a little change +of distance removes them beyond our vision. + +9. Perhaps these revolving specks of nebulae are the outriders of the +zodiacal light; portions of it, which, being external to the permanently +nebulous central mass, have broken into patches, and are seen as stars +for the moment that we are near to them. And if this be true, we have to +correct, in a certain way, what we have previously said of the zodiacal +light;--that no one had thought of resolving it into stars: for it would +thus appear, that in its outer region, it resolves itself into stars, +visible, though but for a moment, to the naked eye. + +10. And thus, all these phenomena concur in making it appear probable, +that the Earth is placed in that region of the solar system in which the +planet-forming powers are most vigorous and potent;--between the region +of permanent nebulous vapor, and the region of mere shreds and specks of +planetary matter, such as are the satellites and the planetoidal group. +And from these views, finally it follows, that the Earth is really the +largest planetary body in the Solar System. The vast globes of Jupiter +and Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which roll far above her, are still only +huge masses of cloud and vapor, water and air; which, from their +enormous size, are ponderous enough to retain round them a body of +small satellites, perhaps, in some degree at least, solid; and which +have perhaps a small lump, or a few similar lumps, of planetary matter +at the centre of their watery globe. The Earth is really the domestic +hearth of this Solar System; adjusted between the hot and fiery haze on +one side, the cold and watery vapor on the other. This region only is +fit to be a domestic hearth, a seat of habitation; and in this region is +placed the largest solid globe of our system; and on this globe, by a +series of creative operations, entirely different from any of those +which separated the solid from the vaporous, the cold from the hot, the +moist from the dry, have been established, in succession, plants, and +animals, and man. So that the habitation has been occupied; the domestic +hearth has been surrounded by its family; the fitnesses so wonderfully +combined have been employed; and the Earth alone, of all the parts of +the frame which revolves round the Sun, has become a World. + +11. Perhaps it may tend still further to illustrate, and to fix in the +reader's mind, the view of the constitution of the solar system here +given, if we remark an analogy which exists, in this respect, between +the Earth in particular, and the Solar System in general. The earth, +like the central parts of the system, is warmed by the sun; and hence, +drives off watery vapors into the circumambient space, where they are +condensed by the cold. The upper regions of the atmosphere, like the +outer regions of the solar system, form the vapors thus raised into +clouds, which are really only water in minute drops; while in the solar +system, the cold of the outer regions, and the rotation of the masses +themselves, maintain the water, and the vapor, in immense spheres. But +Jupiter and Saturn may be regarded as, in many respects, immense clouds; +the continuous water being collected at their centres, while the more +airy and looser parts circulate above. They are the permanent +receptacles of the superfluous water and air of the system. What is not +wanted on the Earth, is stored up there, and hangs above us, far removed +from our atmosphere; but yet, like the clouds in our atmosphere, an +example, what glorious objects accumulations of vapor and water, +illuminated by the rays of the sun, may become in our eyes. + +12. These views are so different from those hitherto generally +entertained, and considered as having a sort of religious dignity +belonging to them, that we may fear, at first at least, they will appear +to many, rash and fanciful, and almost, as we have said, irreverent. On +the question of reverence we may hereafter say a few words; but as to +the rashness of these views, we would beg the reader, calmly and +dispassionately, to consider the very extraordinary number of points in +the solar system, hitherto unexplained, which they account for, or, at +least reduce into consistency and connection, in a manner which seems +wonderful. The Theory, as we may perhaps venture to call it, brings +together all these known phenomena;--the great size and small density of +the exterior planets;--their belts and streaks;--Saturn's +ring;--Jupiter's oblateness;--the great number of satellites of the +exterior planets;--the numerous group of planetoid bodies between +Jupiter and Mars;--the appearance of definite shapes of land and water +on Mars;--the showers of shooting stars which appear at certain periods +of the year;--the Zodiacal Light;--the appearance of Venus as different +from Mars;--and finally, the material composition of meteoric stones. + +13. Perhaps there are other phenomena which more readily find an +explanation in this theory, than in any other: for instance, the recent +discovery of a dim half-transparent ring, as an appendage to the +luminous ring of Saturn, which has hitherto alone been observed. Perhaps +this is the ring of vapor which may naturally be expected to accompany +the ring of water. It is the annular atmosphere of the aqueous annulus. +But, the discovery of this faint ring being so new, and hitherto not +fully unfolded, we shall not further press the argument, which, +hereafter, perhaps, may be more confidently derived from its existence. + +14. There are some other facts in the Solar System, which, we can hardly +doubt, must have a bearing upon the views which we have urged; though we +cannot yet undertake to explain that bearing fully. Not only do all the +planetary bodies of the solar system, as well as the Sun himself, +revolve upon their axes; but there is a very curious fact relative to +these revolutions, which appears to point out a further connection among +them. So far as has yet been ascertained, all those which we, in our +theory, regard as solid bodies, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and Mars, +revolve in very nearly the same time: namely, in about twenty-four +hours. All those larger masses, on the other hand, which we, in our +theory, hold to be watery planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, revolve, not +in a longer time, as would perhaps have been expected, from their +greater size, but in a shorter time; in less than half the time; in +about ten hours. The near agreement of the times of revolution in each +of these two groups, is an extremely curious fact; and cannot fail to +lead our thoughts to the probability of some common original cause of +these motions. But no such common cause has been suggested, by any +speculator on these subjects. If, in this blank, even of hypotheses, one +might be admitted, as at least a mode of connecting the facts, we might +say, that the compound collection of solid materials, water, and air, of +which the solar system consists, and of which our earth alone, perhaps, +retains the combination, being, by whatever means, set a spinning round +an axis, at the rate of one revolution in 24 hours, the solid masses +which were detached from it, not being liable to much contraction, +retained their rate of revolution; while the vaporous masses which were +detached from the fluid and airy part, contracting much, when they came +into a colder region, increased their rate of revolution on account of +their contraction. That such an acceleration of the rate of revolution +would be the result of contraction, is known from mechanical principles; +and indeed, is evident: for the contraction of a circular ring of such +matter into a narrower compass, would not diminish the linear velocity +of its elements, while it would give them a smaller path to describe in +their revolutions. Such an hypothesis would account, therefore, both for +the nearly equal times of revolution of all the solid planets, and for +the smaller period of rotation, which the larger planets show. + +15. In what manner, however, portions are to be detached from such a +rotating mass, so as to form solid planets on the one side, and watery +planets on the other, and how these planets, so detached, are to be made +to revolve round the Sun, in orbits nearly circular, we have no +hypothesis ready to explain. And perhaps we may say, that no +satisfactory, or even plausible, hypothesis to explain these facts, has +been proposed: for the Nebular Hypothesis, the only one which is likely +to be considered as worthy any notice on this subject, is too +imperfectly worked out, as yet, to enable us to know, what it will or +will not account for. According to that hypothesis, the nebular matter +of a system, having originally a rotatory motion, gradually contracts; +and separating, at various distances from the centre, forms rings; which +again, breaking at some point of their circumference, are, by the mutual +attraction of their parts, gathered up into one mass; which, when +cooled down, so as to be opaque, becomes a planet; still revolving round +the luminous mass which remains at the centre. That such a process, if +we suppose the consistency, and other properties, of the nebulous matter +to be such as to render it possible, would produce planetary masses +revolving round a sun in nearly circular orbits, and rotating about +their own axes, seems most likely; though it does not appear that it has +been very clearly shown.[9] But no successful attempt has been made to +deduce any laws of the distances from the centre, times of rotation, or +other properties of such planets; and therefore, we cannot say that the +nebular hypothesis is yet in any degree confirmed. + +16. The Theory which we have ventured to propose, of the Solar System, +agrees with the Nebular Hypothesis, so far as that hypothesis goes; if +we suppose that there is, at the centre of the exterior planets, +Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, a solid nucleus, probably small, +of the same nature as the other planets. Such an addition to our theory +is, perhaps, on all accounts, probable: for that circumstance would seem +to determine, to particular points, the accumulation of water and +vapors, to which we hold that those planets owe the greater part of +their bulk. Those planets then, Jupiter, Saturn, and the others, are +really small solid planets, with enormous oceans and atmospheres. The +Nebular Hypothesis, in that case, is that part of our Hypothesis, which +relates to the condensation of luminous nebular matter; while _we_ +consider, further, the causes which, scorching the inner planets, and +driving the vapors to the outer orbs, would make the region of the earth +the only habitable part of the system. + +17. The belief that other planets, as well as our own, are the seats of +habitation of living things, has been entertained, in general, not in +consequence of physical reasons, but in spite of physical reasons; and +because there were conceived to be other reasons, of another kind, +theological or philosophical, for such a belief. It was held that Venus, +or that Saturn, was inhabited, not because any one could devise, with +any degree of probability, any organized structure which would be +suitable to animal existence on the surfaces of those planets; but +because it was conceived that the greatness or goodness of the Creator, +or His wisdom, or some other of His attributes, would be manifestly +imperfect, if these planets were not tenanted by living creatures. The +evidences of design, of which we can trace so many, and such striking +examples, in our own sphere, the sphere of life, must, it was assumed, +exist, in the like form, in every other part of the universe. The +disposition to regard the Universe in this point of view, is very +general; the disinclination to accept any change in our belief which +seems, for a time, to interfere with this view, is very strong; and the +attempt to establish the necessity of new views discrepant from these +has, in many eyes, an appearance as if it were unfriendly to the best +established doctrines of Natural Theology. All these apprehensions will, +we trust, be shown, in the sequel, to be utterly unfounded: and in order +that any such repugnance to the doctrines here urged, may not linger in +the reader's mind, we shall next proceed to contemplate the phenomena of +the universe in their bearing upon such speculations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Other speculators also have regarded Saturn's Ring as a ring of +cloud or water. See _Cosmos_, III. 527 and 553. + +[2] Humboldt has already remarked _(Cosmos_, I. 95, and III. 427), that +the inner planets as far as Mars, and the outer ones beginning with +Jupiter, form two groups having different properties. Also Encke. (See +Humboldt's Note.) + +[3] Printed Oct. 19, 1853. + +[4] Herschel, 540. + +[5] It is probable, from the small density of Jupiter's satellites, that +they also consist in a great measure of water and vapor. Only one of +them is denser than Jupiter himself.--_Cosmos_. + +[6] It has, in our own day, even in the present year, been regarded as a +great achievement of man to direct the fiery influences which he can +command, so as to cast a colossal statue in a single piece, instead of +casting it in several portions. + +[7] Herschel, 900-905. + +[8] Herschel, 901. + +[9] Besides the curious relation of the times of rotation of the +planets, just noticed, there is another curious relation, of their +distance from the Sun, which any one, wishing to frame an hypothesis on +the origin of our Solar System, ought by all means to try to account +for. + +The distances from the Sun, of the planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +the Planetoids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, are nearly as the numbers, + + 4, 7, 10, 16, 28, 52, 100, 196: + +now the excesses of each of these numbers above the first are, + + 3, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96: + +a series in which each term (after the first,) is double of the +preceding one. Hence, the distances of the planets conform to a series +following this law, (_Bode's law_, as it is termed.) And though the law +is by no means exact, yet it was so far considered a probable expression +of a general fact, that the deviation from this law, in the interval +between Mars and Jupiter, was the principal cause which led first to the +suspicion of a planet interposed in the seemingly vacant space; and thus +led to the discovery of the planetoids, which really occupy that region. +It is true, that the law is found not to hold, in the case of the +newly-discovered planet Neptune; for his distance from the Sun, which +according to this law, should be 388, is really only 300, 30 times the +Earth's distance, instead of 39 times. Still, Bode's law has a +comprehensive approximate reality in the Solar System, sufficient to +make it a strong recommendation of any hypothesis of the origin of the +system, that it shall account for this law. This, however, the nebular +hypothesis does not. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN. + + +1. There is no more worthy or suitable employment of the human mind, +than to trace the evidences of Design and Purpose in the Creator, which +are visible in many parts of the Creation. The conviction thus obtained, +that man was formed by the wisdom, and is governed by the providence, of +an intelligent and benevolent Being, is the basis of Natural Religion, +and thus, of all Religion. We trust that some new lights will be thrown +upon the traces of Design which the Universe offers, even in the work +now before the reader; and as our views, regarding the plan of such +Design, are different, in some respects, and especially as relates to +the Planets and Stars, from those which have of late been generally +entertained, it will be proper to make some general remarks, mainly +tending to show, that the argument remains undisturbed, though the +physical theory is changed. + +2. It cannot surprise any one who has attended to the history of +science, to find that the views, even of the most philosophical minds, +with regard to the plan of the universe, alter, as man advances from +falsehood to truth: or rather, from very imperfect truth to truth less +imperfect. But yet such a one will not be disposed to look, with any +other feeling than profound respect, upon the reasonings by which the +wisest men of former times ascended from their erroneous views of nature +to the truth of Natural Religion. It cannot seem strange to us that man +at any point, and perhaps at every point, of his intellectual progress, +should have an imperfect insight into the plan of the Universe; but, in +the most imperfect condition of such knowledge, he has light enough from +it, to see vestiges of the Wisdom and Benevolence of the Creating Deity; +and at the highest point of his scientific progress, he can probably +discover little more, by the light which physical science supplies. We +can hardly hope, therefore, that any new truths with regard to the +material universe, which may now be attainable, will add very much to +the evidence of creative design; but we may be confident, also, that +they will not, when rightly understood, shake or weaken such evidence. +It has indeed happened, in the history of mankind, that new views of the +constitution of the universe, brought to the light by scientific +researches, and established beyond doubt, in the conviction of impartial +persons, have disturbed the thoughts of religious men; because they did +not fall in with the view then entertained, of the mode in which God +effects his purpose in the universe. But in these cases, it soon came to +be seen, after a season of controversy, reproach, and alarm, that the +old argument for design was capable of being translated into the +language of the new theory, with no loss of force; and the minds of men +were gradually tranquillized and pacified. It may be hoped that the +world is now so much wiser than it was two or three centuries ago, that +if any modification of the current arguments for the Divine Attributes, +drawn from the aspect of the universe, become necessary, in consequence +of the rectification of received errors, it will take place without +producing pain, fear, or anger. To promote this purpose, we proceed to +make a few remarks. + +3. The proof of Design, as shown in the works of Creation, is seen most +clearly, not in mere physical arrangement, but in the structure of +organized things;--in the constitution of plants and animals. In those +parts of nature, the evidences of intelligent purpose, of wise +adaptation, of skilful selection of means to ends, of provident +contrivance, are, in many instances, of the most striking kind. Such, +for example, are the structure of the human eye, so curiously adapted +for its office of seeing; the muscles, cords, and pullies by which the +limbs of animals are moved, exceeding far the mechanical ingenuity shown +in human inventions; the provisions which exist, before the birth of +offspring, for its sustenance and well-being when it shall have been +born;--these are lucid and convincing proofs of an intelligent Creator, +to which no ordinary mind can refuse its conviction. Nor is the +evidence, which we here recognize, deprived of its force, when we see +that many parts of the structure of animals, though adapted for +particular purposes, are yet framed as a portion of a system which does +not seem, in its general form, to have any bearing on such purposes.[1] +The beautiful contrivances which exist in the skeleton of man, and the +contrivances, possessing the same kind of beauty, in the skeleton of a +sparrow, do not appear to any reasonable person less beautiful, because +the skeleton of a man, and of a sparrow, have an agreement, bone for +bone, for which we see no reason, and which appears to us to answer no +purpose. The way in which the human hand and arm are made capable of +their infinite variety of use, by the play of the radius and ulna, the +bones of the wrist and the fingers, is not the less admirable, because +we can trace the representatives and rudiments of each of these bones, +in cases where they answer no such ends;--in the foreleg of the pig, the +ox, the horse, or the seal. The provision for feeding the young +creature, which is made, with such bounteous liberality, and such +opportune punctuality, by the breasts of the mother, has not any doubt +thrown upon its reality, by the teats of male animals and the paps of +man, which answer no such purpose. That in these cases there is +manifested a wider plan, which does not show any reference to the needs +of particular cases; as well as peculiar contrivances for the particular +cases, does not disturb our impression of design in each case. Why +should so large a portion of the animal kingdom, intended, as it seems, +for such different fields of life and modes of living;--beasts, birds, +fishes;--still have a skeleton of the same plan, and even of the same +parts, bone for bone; though many of the parts, in special cases, appear +to be altogether useless (namely, the vertebrate plan)? We cannot tell. +Our naturalists and comparative anatomists, it would seem, cannot point +out any definite end, which is answered by making so many classes of +animals on this one vertebrate plan. And since they cannot do this, and +since we cannot tell why animals are so made, we must be content to say +that we do not know; and therefore, to leave this feature in the +structure of animals out of our argument for design. Hence we do not say +that the making of beasts, birds, and fishes, on the same vertebrate +plan, proves design in the Creator, in any way in which we can +understand design. That plan is not of itself a proof of design; it is +something in addition to the proofs of design; a general law of the +animal creation, established, it may be, for some other reason. But +this common plan being given, we can discern and admire, in every kind +of animal, the manner in which the common plan is adapted to the +particular purpose which the animal's kind of life involves.[2] The +general law is not all; there is also, in every instance, a special care +for the species. The general law may seem, in many cases, to remove +further from us the proof of providential care; by showing that the +elements of the benevolent contrivance are not provided in the cases +alone where they are needed, but in others also. But yet this seeming, +this obscuration of the evidence of design, by interposing the form of +general law, cannot last long. If the general law supplies the elements, +still a special adaptation is needed to make the elements answer such a +purpose; and what is this adaptation, but design? The radius and ulna, +the carpal and metacarpal bones, are all in the general type of the +vertebrate skeleton. But does this fact make it the less wonderful, that +man's arm and hand and fingers should be constructed so that he can make +and use the spade, the plow, the loom, the pen, the pencil, the chisel, +the lute, the telescope, the microscope, and all other instruments? Is +it not, rather, very wonderful that the bones which are to be found +rudimentally, in the leg-bone of a horse, or the hoof of an ox, should +be capable of such a curious and fertile development and modification? +And is not such development and modification a work, and a proof, of +design and intention in the Creator? And so in other cases. The teats of +male animals, the nipples of man, may arise from this, that the general +plan of the animal frame includes paps, as portions of it; and that the +frame is so far moulded in the embryo, before the sex of the offspring +is determined. Be it so. Yet still this provision of paps in the animal +form in general, has reference to offspring; and the development of +that part of the frame, when the sex is determined, is evidence of +design, as clear as it is possible to conceive in the works of nature. +The general law is moulded to the special purpose, at the proper stage; +and this play of general laws, and special contrivances, into each +other's provinces, though it may make the phenomena a little more +complex, and modify our notion as to the mode of the Creator's working, +will not, in philosophical minds, disturb the conviction that there is +design in the special adaptations: besides which, some other feature of +the operation of the Creative Mind may be suggested by the prevalence of +general laws in the Creation. + +4. There is, however, one caution suggested by this view. Since, +besides, and mixed with the examples of Design which the creation +offers, there are also results of General Laws, in which we cannot trace +the purpose and object of the law; we may fall into error, if we fasten +upon something which is a result of such mere general laws, and imagine +that we can discern its object and purpose. Thus, for instance, we might +possibly persuade ourselves that we had discovered the use and purpose +of the teats of male animals; or of the trace of separation into parts +which the leg-bone of a horse offers; or of the false toes of a pig: all +which are, as we have seen, the rudiments of a plan more general than is +developed in the particular case. And if, when we had made such a +fancied discovery, it were found that the uses and purposes which we had +imagined to belong to these parts or features, were not really served by +them; at first, perhaps, we might be somewhat disturbed, as having lost +one of the evidences of the design of the Creator, all which are, +precious to a reverent mind. But it is not likely that any disturbance +of a reverent mind on such grounds as this, would continue long, or go +far. We should soon come to recollect, how light and precarious, +perhaps how arbitrary and ill-supported by our real knowledge, were the +grounds on which we had assigned such uses to such parts. We should turn +back from them to the more solid and certain evidences, not shaken, nor +likely to be shaken, by any change in prevalent zoological or anatomical +doctrines, which those who love to contemplate such subjects habitually +dwell upon; and, holding ourselves ready to entertain any speculations +by which the bearing of those general Laws upon Natural Religion could +be shown, in such a way as to convince our reason, we should rest in the +confident and tranquil persuasion that no success or failure in such +speculations could vitally affect our belief in a wise and benevolent +Deity:--that though additional illustrations of his attributes might be +interesting and welcome, no change of our scientific point of view could +make his being or action doubtful. + +5. This is, it would seem, the manner in which a reasonable and reverent +man would regard the proof of a Supreme Creator and Governor, which is +derived from Design, as seen in the organic creation; and the mode in +which such proof would be affected by changes in the knowledge which we +may acquire of the general laws by which the organic creation is +constituted and governed. And hence, if it should be found to be +established by the researches of the most comprehensive and exact +philosophy, that there are, in any province of the universe, +resemblances, gradations, general laws, indications of the mode in which +one form approaches to another, and seems to pass into and generate +another, which tend to obliterate distinctions which at first appeared +broad and conspicuous; still the argument, from the design which appears +in the parts of which we most clearly see the purpose, would not lose +its force. If, for instance, it should be made apparent, by geological +investigations of the extinct fossil creation, that the animal forms +which have inhabited the earth, have gradually approached to that type +in which the human form is included, passing from the rudest and most +imperfect animal organizations, mollusks, or even organic monads, to +vertebrate animals, to warm-blooded animals, to monkeys, and to men; +still, the evidences of design in the anatomy of man are not less +striking than they were, when no such gradation was thought of. And what +is more to the purpose of our argument, the evidences of the peculiar +nature and destination of man, as shown in other characters than his +anatomy,--his moral and intellectual nature, his history and +capacities,--stand where they stood before; nor is the vast chasm which +separates man, as a being with such characters as these latter, from all +other animals, at all filled up or bridged over. + +6. The evidence of design in the inorganic world,--in the relation of +earth, air, water, heat and light,--is, to most persons, less striking +and impressive, than it is in the organic creation. But even among these +mere physical elements of the world, when we consider them with +reference to living things, we find many arrangements which, on a +reflective view, excite our admiration, by the beneficial effect, and +seemingly beneficent purpose. Our condition is furnished with the solid +earth, on which we stand, and in which we find the materials of man's +handiworks; stone and metal, clay and sand;--with the atmosphere which +we breathe, and which is the vehicle of oral intercourse between man and +man;--with revolutions of the sun, by which are brought round the +successions of day and night, through all their varying lengths, and of +summer and winter;--with the clouds above us, which pour upon the earth +their fertilizing showers. All this furniture of the earth, so +marvellously adapting it for the abode of living creatures, and +especially of man, may well be regarded as a collection of provisions +for his benefit:--as _intended_ to do him the good, which they do. Nor +would this impression be removed, or even weakened, if we were to +discover that some of these arrangements, instead of being produced by a +machinery confined to that single purpose, were only partial results of +a more general plan. For instance; we learn that the varying lengths of +days and nights through the year, and the varying declination of the +sun, are produced, not, as was at first supposed, by the sun moving +round the earth, in a complex diurnal and annual path, but by the earth +revolving in an annual orbit round the sun; while at the same time she +has a diurnal rotation about her own axis, which axis, by the laws of +mechanics, remains always parallel to itself. When we learn that this is +so, we see that the effect is produced by a mechanical arrangement far +more simple than any which the imagination of man had devised; but in +this case, the effect is plainly rather an increased admiration at the +simplicity of the mechanism, than a wavering belief in the reality of +the purpose. In like manner when, instead of supposing water to exist in +a continuous reservoir in a firmament above the earth, and to fall in +the earlier and in the latter rain, by some special agency for that +purpose; men learnt to see that the water in the upper regions of the +air must exist in clouds and in vapors only, and must fall in showers by +the condensing influence of cold currents of air; they needed not to +cease to admire the kindness of the Creator, in providing the rain to +water the earth, and the wind to dry it; although the mechanism by which +the effect was produced was of a larger kind than they had before +imagined. And even if this mechanism extend through the solar system: if +the arrangement by which the Earth's atmosphere is the special region in +which there are winds hot and cold, clouds compact or dissolving,--be +an arrangement which extends its influence to other planets, as well as +to ours;--if this mixed atmosphere be placed, not only at the meeting +point of clear aqueous vapor above, and warmer airs below, but also at +the meeting point of a hot central region surrounding the Sun, and a +cold exterior zone in which water and vapor can exist in immense +collected masses, such as are Jupiter and Saturn;--still it would not +appear, to a reasonable view, that this larger expansion of the +machinery by which the effect is produced, makes the machinery less +remarkable; or can at all tend to diminish the belief that it was +_intended_ to produce the effect which it does produce. Hot and cold, +moist and dry, are constantly mixed together for the support of +vegetable and animal life; and not the less so, if we believe that, +though elements of this kind pervade the whole solar system, it is only +at the Earth that they are combined so as to foster and nourish living +things. + +7. But it will perhaps be said, that to suppose the whole Solar System +to be a machine merely operating for the benefit of the Earth and its +population, is to give to the Earth and its population an importance in +the scheme of creation which is quite extravagant and improbable:--it is +to make the greater orbs, Jupiter and Saturn, minister to the less; +instead of having their own purpose, and their own population, which +their size naturally leads us to expect. To this we reply, that, in the +first place, we have shown good reason for believing that the Earth is +really the largest dense solid globe which exists in the solar system, +and that the size of Jupiter and Saturn arises from their being composed +mainly of water and vapor. And with regard to the difficulty of the +greater ministering to the less;--if by _greater_, mere size and extent +be understood, it appears to be the universal law of creation, that the +greater, in that sense, _should_ minister to the less, when the less +includes living things. Even if the planets be all inhabited, the sun, +which is greater far than all of them together, ministers light and heat +to all of them. Even on this supposition, the vast spaces by which the +planets are separated have no use, that we can discern, except to place +them at suitable distances from the sun. Even on this supposition, their +solid globes within, their atmospheres without are all merely +subservient to the benefit of a thin and scattered population on the +surface. The space occupied by men and animals on the earth's surface, +even taking into account the highest buildings and the deepest seas, is +only a few hundreds, or a thousand feet. The benefit of this minute +shell, interrupted in many places for vast distances, everywhere loosely +and sparsely filled, is ministered to by the solidity and attraction of +a mass below it 20 millions of feet deep; by the influence of an +atmosphere above it 200 thousand feet high at least, and it may be, much +more. And this being so, if we increase the depth of the centre 20 +thousand times; if we carry the extreme verge of air and vapor to thirty +times the radius of the earth's orbit from us, how does the construction +of the machine become more improbable, or the disproportion of its size +to its purpose more incongruous? Is mere size,--extent of brute matter +or blank space,--so majestic a thing? Is not infinite space large enough +to admit of machines of any size without grudging? But if we thus move +the centre of the Earth's peopled surface 20 thousand times further off, +we reach the Sun. If we carry the limit of air and vapor to the distance +of 30 times the radius of the Earth's orbit we arrive at Neptune. Are +these new numbers monstrous, while the old ones were accepted without +scruple? Is number such an alarming feature in the description of the +Universe? Does not the description of every part and every aspect of it, +present us with numbers so large, that wonder and repugnance, on that +ground are long ago exhausted? Surely this is so: and if the evidence +really tend to prove to us that all the solar system ministers to the +earth's population; the mere size of the system, compared with the space +occupied by the population, will not long stand in the way of the +reception of such a doctrine. + +8. But the objection will perhaps be urged in another form. It will be +said that the other Planets have so many points of resemblance with the +Earth, that we must suppose their nature and purpose the same. They, +like the Earth, revolve in circles round the sun, rotate on their own +axes, have, several of them, satellites, are opaque bodies, deriving +light and probably heat from the sun. To an external spectator of the +Solar System, they would not be distinguishable from the Earth. Such a +spectator would never be tempted to guess that the Earth alone, of all +these, neither the greatest nor the least, neither the one with the most +satellites, nor the fewest, neither the innermost nor the outermost of +the planets, is the only one inhabited; or at any rate the only one +inhabited by an intelligent population. And to this we reply; that the +largest of the other planets, if we judge rightly, are _not_ like the +Earth in one most essential respect, their density; and none of them, in +having a surface consisting of land and water; except perhaps Mars: that +if the supposed external spectator could see that this was so, he might +see that the earth was different from the rest; and he might be able to +see the vaporous nature of the outer planets, so that he would no more +think of peopling them, than we do, of peopling the grand Alpine ridges +and vallies which we see in the clouds of a summer-sky. + +9. But even if the supposed spectator attended only to the obvious and +superficial resemblances between one of the planets and another, he +might still, if he were acquainted with the general economy of the +Universe, have great hesitation in inferring that, if one of them were +inhabited, the others also must be inhabited. For, as we have said, in +the plan of creation, we have a profusion of examples, where similar +visible structures do not answer a similar purpose; where, so far as we +can see, the structure answers no purpose in many cases; but exists, as +we may say, for the sake of similarity: the similarity being a general +Law, the result, it would seem, of a creative energy, which is wider in +its operation than the particular purpose. Such examples are, as we have +said, the finger-bones which are packed into the hoofs of a horse, or +the paps and nipples of a male animal. Now the spectator, recollecting +such cases might say: I know that the earth is inhabited; no doubt Mars +and Jupiter are a good deal like the Earth; but are they inhabited? They +look like the terrestrial breast of Nature: but are they really nursing +breasts? Do they, like that, give food to living offspring? Or are they +mere images of such breasts? male teats, dry of all nutritive power? +sports, or rather overworks of nature; marks of a wider law than the +needs of Mother Earth require? many sketches of a design, of which only +one was to be executed? many specimens of the preparatory process of +making a Planet, of which only one was to be carried out into the making +of a World? Such questions might naturally occur to a person acquainted +with the course of creation in general; even before he remarked the +features which tend to show that Jupiter and Saturn, that Venus and +Mercury, have not been developed into peopled worlds, like our Earth. + +10. Perhaps it may be said, that to hold this, is to make Nature work in +vain; to waste her powers; to suppose her to produce the frame work, and +not to build; to make the skeleton, and not to clothe it with living +flesh; to delude us with appearances of analogy and promises of +fertility, which are fallacious. What can we reply to this? + +11. We reply, that to work in vain, in the sense of producing means of +life which are not used, embryos which are never vivified, germs which +are not developed; is so far from being contrary to the usual +proceedings of nature, that it is an operation which is constantly going +on, in every part of nature. Of the vegetable seeds which are produced, +what an infinitely small proportion ever grow into plants! Of animal +ova, how exceedingly few become animals, in proportion to those that do +not; and that are wasted, if this be waste! It is an old calculation, +which used to be repeated as a wonderful thing, that a single female +fish contains in its body 200 millions of ova, and thus, might, of +itself alone, replenish the seas, if all these were fostered into life. +But in truth, this, though it may excite wonder, cannot excite wonder as +anything uncommon. It is only one example of what occurs everywhere. +Every tree, every plant, produces innumerable flowers, the flowers +innumerable seeds, which drop to the earth, or are carried abroad by the +winds, and perish, without having their powers unfolded. When we see a +field of thistles shed its downy seeds upon the wind, so that they roll +away like a cloud, what a vast host of possible thistles are there! Yet +very probably none of them become actual thistles. Few are able to take +hold of the ground at all; and those that do, die for lack of congenial +nutriment, or are crushed by external causes before they are grown. The +like is the case with every tribe of plants.[3] The like with every +tribe of animals. The possible fertility of some kinds of insects is as +portentous as anything of this kind can be. If allowed to proceed +unchecked, if the possible life were not perpetually extinguished, the +multiplying energies perpetually frustrated, they would gain dominion +over the largest animals, and occupy the earth. And the same is the +case, in different degrees, in the larger animals. The female is stocked +with innumerable ovules, capable of becoming living things: of which +incomparably the greatest number end as they began, mere ovules;--marks +of mere possibility, of vitality frustrated. The universe is so full of +such rudiments of things, that they far outnumber the things which +outgrow their rudiments. The marks of possibility are much more numerous +than the tale of actuality. The vitality which is frustrated is far more +copious than the vitality which is consummated. So far, then, as this +analogy goes, if the earth alone, of all the planetary harvest, has been +a fertile seed of creation;--if the terrestrial embryo have alone been +evolved into life, while all the other masses have remained barren and +dead:--we have, in this, nothing which we need regard as an +unprecedented waste, an improbable prodigality, an unusual failure in +the operations of nature: but on the contrary, such a single case of +success among many of failure, is exactly the order of nature in the +production of life. It is quite agreeable to analogy, that the Solar +System, of which the _flowers_ are not many, should have borne but one +_fertile_ flower. One in eight, or in twice eight, reared into such +wondrous fertility as belongs to the Earth, is an abundant produce, +compared with the result in the most fertile provinces of Nature. And +even if any number of the Fixed Stars were also found to be barren +flowers of the sky; objects, however beautiful, yet not sources of life +or development, we need not think the powers of creation wasted or +frustrated, thrown away or perverted. One such fertile result as the +Earth, with all its hosts of plants and animals, and especially with +Man, an intelligent being, to stand at the head of those hosts, is a +worthy and sufficient produce, so far as we can judge of the Creator's +ways by analogy, of all the Universal Scheme. + +12. But when we follow this analogy, so far as to speak of the mere +material mass of a planet as an _embryo world_;--a barren flower;--a +seed which has never been developed into a plant;--we are in danger of +allowing the analogy to mislead us. For a planet, as to its brute mass, +has really nothing in common with a seed or an embryo. It has no +organization, or tendency to organization; no principle of life, however +obscure. So far as we can judge, no progress of time, or operation of +mere natural influence, would clothe a brute mass with vegetables, or +stock it with animals. No species of living thing would have its place +upon the surface; by the mere order of unintelligent nature. So much is +this so, according to all that our best knowledge teaches, that those +geologists who must most have desired, for the sake of giving +completeness and consistency to their systems, to make the production of +vegetable and animal species from brute matter, a part of the order of +nature, (inasmuch as they have explained everything else by the order of +nature,) have not ventured to do so. They allow, generally at least, +each separate species to require a special act of creative power, to +bring it into being. They make the peopling of the earth, with its +successive races of inhabitants, a series of events altogether different +from the operation of physical laws in the sustentation of existing +species. The creation of life is, they allow, something out of the +range of the ordinary laws of nature. And therefore, when we speak of +uninhabited planets, as cases in which vital tendencies have been +defeated; in which their apparent destiny, as worlds of life, has been +frustrated; we really do injustice to our argument. The planets had no +vital tendencies: they could have had such given, only by an additional +act, or a series of additional acts, of Creative power. As mere inert +globes, they had no settled destiny to be seats of life: they could have +such a destiny, only by the appointment of Him who creates living +things, and puts them in the places which he chooses for them. If, when +a planetary mass had come into being, (in virtue of the same general +physical law, suppose, which produced the earth,) the Creator placed a +host of living things upon the earth, and none upon the other planet; +there was still no violation of analogy, no seeming change of purpose, +no unfinished plan. In the solar system, we can see what seem to be good +reasons why he did this; but if we could not see such reasons, still we +should be yet further from being able to see reasons why he necessarily +must place inhabitants upon the other planet. + +13. It is sometimes said, that it is agreeable to the goodness of God, +that all parts of the creation should swarm with life; that life is +enjoyment; and that the benevolence of the Supreme Being is shown in the +diffusion of such enjoyment into every quarter of the universe. To leave +a planet without inhabitants, would, it is thought, be to throw away an +opportunity of producing happiness. Now we shall not here dwell upon the +consideration, that the enjoyment thus spoken of, is, in a great degree, +the enjoyment which the mere life of the lower tribes of animals +implies;--the enjoyment of madrepores and oysters, cuttle-fish and +sharks, tortoises and serpents; but we reply more broadly, that it is +not the rule followed by the Creator, to fill all places with living +things. To say nothing of the vast intervals between planet and planet, +which, it is presumed, no one supposes to be occupied by living things; +how large a portion of the surface of the earth is uninhabited, or +inhabited only in the scantiest manner. Vast desert tracts exist in +Africa and in Asia, where the barren sand nourishes neither animal nor +vegetable life. The highest regions of mountain-ranges, clothed with +perpetual snow, and with far-reaching sheets of glacier ice, are +untenanted, except by the chamois at their outskirts. There are many +uninhabited islands; and were formerly many more. The ocean, covering +nearly three-fourths of the globe, is no seat of habitation for land +animals or for man; and though it has a large population of the fishy +tribes, is probably peopled in smaller numbers than if it were land, as +well as by inferior orders. We see, in the Earth then, which is the only +seat of life of which we really know anything, nothing to support the +belief that every field in the material universe is tenanted by living +inhabitants. + +14. That vegetables and animals, being once placed upon the earth, have +multiplied or are multiplying, so as to occupy every part of the land +and water which is suited for their habitation, we can see much reason +to believe. Philosophical natural-historians have been generally led to +the conviction that each species has had an original centre of +dispersion, where it was first native, and that from this centre it has +been diffused in all directions, as far as the circumstances of climate +and soil were favorable to its production. But we can see also much +reason to believe that this general diffusion of vegetable and animal +life from centres, is a part of the order of nature which may often be +made to give way to other and higher purposes;--to the diffusion, over +the whole surface of the earth, of a race of intelligent, moral agents. +This process may often interfere with the general law of diffusion: as +for instance, when man exterminates noxious animals. And whatever may be +the laws which tend to replenish the earth, on which such centres of the +diffusion of life exist for animals and plants; according to all +analogy, these laws can have no force on any other planet, till such +origins and centres of life are established on their surfaces. And even +if any of the species which have ever tenanted the earth were so +established on any other planet, we have the strongest reason to believe +that they could not survive to a second generation. + +15. Perhaps it may be said that we unjustifiably limit the power and +skill of the Supreme Creator, if we deny that he could frame creatures +fitted to live on any of the other planets, as well as in the +Earth:--that the wonderful variety, and unexpected resource, of the ways +in which animals are adapted for all kinds of climates, habitations, and +conditions, upon the earth, may give us confidence that, under +conditions still more extended, in habitations still further removed, in +climates going beyond the terrestrial extremes, still the same wisdom +and skill may well be supposed to have devised possible modes of animal +life. + +16. To this we reply, that we are so far from saying that the Creator +could not place inhabitants in the other planets, that we have attempted +to show what kind of inhabitants would be most likely to be placed +there, by considering the way in which animals are accommodated to +special conditions in their habitation. In judging of such modes of +accommodating animals to an abode on other planets, as well as the +earth, we have reasoned from what we know, of the mode in which animals +are accommodated to their different habitations on the earth. We believe +this to be the only safe and philosophical way of treating the question. +If we are to reason at all about the possibility of animal life, we +must suppose that heat and light, gravity and buoyancy, materials and +affinities, air and moisture, produce the same effect, require the same +adaptations, in Jupiter or in Venus, as they do on the Earth. If we do +not suppose this, we run into the error which so long prevented many +from accepting the Newtonian system:--the error of thinking that matter +in the heavens is governed by quite different laws from matter on the +earth. We must adopt that belief, if we hold that animals may live under +relations of heat and moisture, materials and affinities, in Jupiter or +Venus, under which they could not live on our planet. And that belief, +as we have said, appears to us contrary to all the teaching which the +history of science offers us. + +17. And not only is it contrary to the teaching of the history of +science, to suppose the laws, which connect elemental and organic +nature, to be different in the other planets from what they are on ours; +but moreover the supposition would not at all answer the purpose, of +making it probable that the planets are inhabited. For if we begin to +imagine new and unknown laws of nature for those abodes, what is there +to limit or determine our assumptions in any degree? What extravagant +mixtures of the attributes and properties of mind and matter may we not +then accept as probable truths? We know how difficult the poets have +found it to describe, with any degree of consistency, the actions and +events of a world of angels, or of evil spirits, souls or shades, +embodied in forms so as to admit of description, and yet not subject to +the laws of human bodies. Virgil, Tasso, Milton, Klopstock, and many +others, have struggled with this difficulty:--no one of them, it will be +probably agreed, with any great success; at least, regarding his +representation as a hypothesis of a possible form of life, different +from all the forms which we know. Yet if we are to reject the laws +which govern the known forms of life, in order that we may be able to +maintain the possibility of some unknown form in a different planet, we +must accept some of these hypotheses, or find a better. We must suppose +that weight and cohesion, wounds and mutilations, wings and plumage, +would have, either the effect which the poets represent them as having, +or some different effect: and in either case it will be impossible to +give any sufficient reason why we should confine the population to the +surface of a planet. If gravity have not, upon any set of beings, the +effect which it has upon us, such beings may live upon the surface of +Saturn, though it be mere vapor: but then, on that supposition, they may +equally well live in the vast space between Saturn and Jupiter, without +needing any planet for their mansion. If we are ready to suppose that +there are, in the solar system, conscious beings, not subject to the +ordinary laws of life, we may go on to imagine creatures constituted of +vaporous elements, floating in the fiery haze of a nebula, or close to +the body of a sun; and cloudy forms which soar as vapors in the region +of vapor. But such imaginations, besides being rather fitted for the +employment of poets than of philosophers, will not, as we have said, +find a population for the planets; since such forms may just as easily +be conceived swimming round the sun in empty space, or darting from star +to star, as confining themselves to the neighborhood of any of the solid +globes which revolve about the central sun. + +18. We should not, then add anything to the probability of inhabitants +on the other planets of our system, even if we were arbitrarily to +assume unlimited changes in the laws of nature, when we pass from our +region to theirs. But probably, all readers will be of opinion that such +assumptions are contrary to the whole scheme and spirit of such +speculations as we are here presuming:--that if we speculate on such +subjects at all, it must be done by supposing that the same laws of +nature operate in the same manner, in planetary, as in terrestrial +spaces;--and that as we suppose, and prove, gravity and attraction, +inertia and momentum, to follow the same rules, and produce the same +effects, on brute matter there, which they do here; so, both these +forces, and others, as light and heat, moisture and air, if, in the +planets, they go beyond the extremes which limit them here, yet must +imply, in any organized beings which exist in the planets, changes, +though greater in amount, of the same kind as those which occur in +approaching the terrestrial extremes of those elementary agents. And +what kind of a population that would lead us to suppose in Jupiter or +Saturn, Mars or Venus, the reader has already seen our attempt to +determine; and may thence judge whether, when we go so far beyond the +terrestrial extremes of heat and cold, light and dimness, vapor and +water, air and airlessness, any population at all is probable. + +19. Perhaps some persons, even if they cannot resist the force of these +reasons, may still yield to them with regret; and may feel as if, having +hitherto believed that the planets were inhabited, and having now to +give up that belief, their view of the solar system, as one of the +provinces of God's creation, were made narrower and poorer than it was +before. And this feeling may be still further increased, if they are led +to believe also that many of the fixed stars are not the centres of +inhabited systems; or that very few, or none are. It may seem to them, +as if, by such a change of belief, the field of God's greatness, +benevolence, and government, were narrowed and impoverished, to an +extent painful and shocking;--as if, instead of being the Maker and +Governor of innumerable worlds, of the most varied constitution, we were +called upon to regard him as merely the Master of the single world in +which we live:--as if, instead of being the object of reverence and +adoration to the intelligent population of these thousand spheres, he +was recognized and worshipped on one only, and on that, how scantily and +imperfectly! + +20. It is not to be denied that there may be such a regret and +disturbance naturally felt at having to give up our belief that the +planets and the stars probably contain servants and worshippers of God. +It must always be a matter of pain and trouble, to be urged with +tenderness, and to be performed in time, to untwine our reverential +religious sentiments from erroneous views of the constitution of the +universe with which they have been involved. But the change once made, +it is found that religion is uninjured, and reverence undiminished. And +therefore we trust that the reader will receive with candor and patience +the argument which we have to offer with reference to this view, or +rather, this sentiment. + +21. We remark, in the first place, that however repugnant it may be to +us to believe a state of any part of the universe in which there are not +creatures who can know, obey and worship God; we are compelled, by +geological evidence, to admit that such a state of things has existed +upon the earth, during a far longer period than the whole duration of +man's race. If we suppose that the human race, if not by their actual +knowledge, obedience, and worship of God, yet at least by their +faculties for knowing, obeying, and worshipping, are a sufficient reason +why there should be such a province in God's empire; still in fact, this +race has existed only for a few thousand years, out of the, perhaps, +millions of years of the earth's existence; and during all the previous +period, the earth, if tenanted, was tenanted by brute creatures, fishes +and lizards, beasts and birds, of which none had any faculty, +intellectual, moral, or religious. By the same analogy, therefore, on +which we have already insisted, we may argue that there is reason to +believe, that if other planets, and other stars, are the seats of +habitation, it is rather of such habitation as has prevailed upon the +earth during the millions, than during the six thousand years; and that +if we have, in consequence of physical reasons, to give up the belief of +a population in the other planets, or in the stars; we are giving up, +not anything with which we might dwell with religious pleasure--hosts of +fellow-servants and fellow-worshippers of the Divine Author of all:--but +the mere brute tribes, of the land and of the water, things that creep +and crawl, prowl and spring;--none that can lift its visage to the sky, +with a feeling that it is looking for its Maker and Master. There have +not existed upon the Earth, during the immense ages of its praehuman +existence, beings who could recognize and think of the Creator of the +world: and if astronomy introduces us, as geology has done, to a new +order of material structures, thus barren of an intelligent and +religious population, we must learn to accept the prospect, in the one +case, as in the other. Nor need we fear that on a further contemplation +of the universe, we shall find every part of it ministering, though +perhaps not in the way our first thoughts had guessed, to sentiments of +reverence and adoration towards the Maker of the universe. + +22. The truth is, as the slightest recollection of the course of opinion +about the stars may satisfy us, that men have had repeatedly to give up +the notions which they had adopted, of the manner in which the material +heavens, the stars and the skies, are to minister to man's feeling of +reverence for the Creator. It was long ago said, that the heavens +declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork: that +day and night, sun and moon, clouds and stars, unite in impressing upon +us this sentiment. And this language still finds a sympathetic echo, in +the breasts of all religious persons. Nor will it ever cease to do so, +however our opinions of the structure and nature of the heavenly bodies +may alter. When the new aspects of things become familiar, they will +show us the handiwork of God, and declare his glory, as plainly as the +old ones. But in the progress of opinions, man has often had to resign +what seemed to him, at the time, visions so beautiful, sublime, and +glorious, that they could not be dismissed without regret. The Universal +Lord was at one time conceived as directing the motions of all the +spheres by means of Ruling Angels, appointed to preside over each. The +prevalence of proportion and number, in the dimensions of these spheres, +was assumed to point to the existence of harmonious sounds, accompanying +their movements, though unheard by man; as proportion and number had +been found to be the accompaniments and conditions of harmony upon +earth. The time came, when these opinions were no longer consistent with +man's knowledge of the heavenly motions, and of the wide-spreading +causes by which they are produced. Then "Ruling Angels from their +spheres were hurled," as a matter of belief; though still the poets +loved to refer to imagery in which so many lofty and reverent thoughts +had so long been clothed. The aspect of the stars was most naturally +turned to a lesson of cheerful and thoughtful piety, by the adoption of +such a view of their nature and office; and thus, the midnight +contemplator of an Italian sky teaches his companion concerning the +starry host; + + Sit, Jessica; look how the floor of heav'n + Is thick inlaid with patterns of bright gold. + There's not the meanest orb, which thou behold'st, + But in his motion like an angel sings, + Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims; + Such harmony is in immortal souls. + +meaning, apparently, the harmony between the immortal spirits that +govern each star, and the cherubims that sing before the throne of God. +But however beautiful and sublime may be this representation, the +philosopher has had to abandon it in its literal sense. He may have +adopted, instead, the opinion that each of the stars is the seat, or the +centre of a group of seats, of choirs of worshippers; but this again, is +still to suppose the nature of those orbs to be entirely different from +that of this earth; though in many respects, we know that they are +governed by the same laws. And if he will be content to know no more +than he has the means of knowing, or even to know only according to his +best means of knowing, he must be prepared, if the force of proof so +requires, to give up this belief also; at least for the present. + +23. Indeed, those who have not been content with this, and have sought +to combine with the visible splendor of the skies, some scheme, founded +upon astronomical views, which shall people them with intelligent beings +and worshippers, have drawn upon their fancy quite as much as Lorenzo in +his lesson to Jessica; or rather, they have done what he and those from +whom his love was derived, had done before. They have taken the truths +which astronomers have discovered and taught, and made the objects and +regions so revealed, the scenes and occasions of such sentiments of +piety as they themselves have, or feel that they ought to have. Even in +Shakspeare, the stars are already _orbs_, each orb has his _motion_, and +in his motion produces the music of the spheres. More recent preachers, +following sounder views of the nature of these orbs and motions, have +been equally poetical when they come to their religious reflection. When +the poet of the _Night Thoughts_ says, + + "Each of these stars is a religious house; + I saw their altars smoke, their incense rise, + And heard hosannas ring through every sphere." + +he is no less imaginative than the poet of that _Midsummer Night's +Dream_, which we have in the _Merchant of Venice_. And we are compelled, +by all the evidence which we can discern, to say the same of the +preacher who speaks, from the pulpit, of these orbs of worlds, and tells +us of the stars which "give animation to other systems[4];" when he +says[5] "worlds roll in these distant regions; and these worlds must be +the centres of life and intelligence;" when he speaks of the earth[6] as +"the humblest of the provinces of God's empire." But then we must +recollect that these thoughts still prove the religious nature of man; +they show how he is impelled to endeavor to elevate his mind to God by +every part of the universe; and it is not too much to say, that through +the faculties of man, thus regarding the starry heavens, every star does +really testify to the greatness of God, and minister to His worship. + +24. We may trust that this mere material magnificence does not require +inhabitants, to make it lift man's heart towards the Universal Creator, +and to make him accept it as a sublime evidence of His greatness. The +grandest objects in nature are blank and void of life;--the +mountain-peaks that stand, ridge beyond ridge, serene in the region of +perpetual snow;--the summer-clouds, images of such mountain tracts, even +upon a grander scale, and tinted with more gorgeous colors;--the +thunder-cloud with its dazzling bolt;--the stormy ocean with its +mountainous waves;--the Aurora Borealis, with its mysterious pillars of +fire;--all these are sublime; all these elevate the soul, and make it +acknowledge a mighty Worker in the elements, in spite of any teaching of +a material philosophy. And if we have to regard the planets as merely +parts of the same great spectacle of nature, we shall not the less +regard them with an admiration which ministers to pious awe. Even merely +as a spectacle, Saturn made visible in his real shape, only by a vast +exertion of human skill, yet shining like a star, in form so curiously +complex, symmetrical and seemingly artificial, will never cease to be an +object of the ardent and contemplative gaze of all who catch a sight of +him. And however much the philosopher may teach that he is merely a mass +of water and vapor, ice and snow, he must be far more interesting to the +eye than the Alps, or the clouds that crown them, or the ocean with its +icebergs; where the same elements occur in forms comparatively shapeless +and lawless, irregular and chaotic. + +25. But perhaps there is in the minds of many persons, a sentiment +connected with this regular and symmetrical form of the heavenly bodies; +that being thus beautifully formed and finished they must have been the +objects of especial care to the Creator. These regular globes, these +nearly circular orbits, these families of satellites, they too so +regular in their movements; this ring of Saturn; all the adjustments by +which the planetary motions are secured from going wrong, as the +profoundest researches into the mechanics of the universe show;--all +these things seem to indicate a peculiar attention bestowed by the Maker +on each part of the machine. So much of law and order, of symmetry and +beauty in every part, implies, it may be thought, that every part has +been framed with a view to some use;--that its symmetry and its beauty +are the marks of some noble purpose. + +26. To reply to this argument, so far as it is requisite for us to do +so, we must recur to what we have already said; that though we see in +many parts of the universe, inorganic as well as organic, marks which we +cannot mistake, of design and purpose; yet that this design and purpose +are often effected by laws which are of a much wider sweep than the +design, so far as we can trace its bearing. These laws, besides +answering the purpose, produce many other effects, in which we can see +no purpose. We have now to observe further that these laws, thus ranging +widely through the universe, and working everywhere, as if the Creator +delighted in the generality of the law, independently of its special +application, do often produce innumerable results of beauty and +symmetry, as if the Creator delighted in beauty and symmetry, +independently of the purpose answered. + +27. Thus, to exemplify this reflection: the powers of aggregation and +cohesion, which hold together the parts of solid bodies, as metals and +stones, salts and ice,--which solidify matter, in short,--we can easily +see, to be necessary, in order to the formation and preservation of +solid terrestrial bodies. They are requisite, in order that man may have +the firm earth to stand upon, and firm materials to use. But let us +observe, what a wonderful and beautiful variety of phenomena grows out +of this law, with no apparent bearing upon that which seems to us its +main purpose. The power of aggregation of solid bodies is, in fact, the +force of crystallization. It binds together the particles of bodies by +molecular forces, which not only hold the particles together, but are +exerted in special directions, which form triangles, squares, hexagons, +and the like. And hence we have all the variety of crystalline forms +which sparkle in gems, ores, earths, pyrites, blendes; and which, when +examined by the crystallographers, are found to be an inexhaustible +field of the play of symmetrical complexity. The diamond, the emerald, +the topaz, have got each its peculiar kind of symmetry. Gold and other +metals have, for the basis of their forms, the cube, but run from this +into a vastly greater variety of regular solids than ever geometer +dreamt of. Some single species of minerals, as calc-spar, present +hundreds of forms, all rigorously regular, and have been alone the +subject of volumes. Ice crystallizes by the same laws as other solid +bodies; and our Arctic voyagers have sometimes relieved the weariness of +their sojourn in those regions, by collecting some of the innumerable +forms, resembling an endless collection of hexagonal flowers, sporting +into different shapes, which are assumed by flakes of snow[7]. In these +and many other ways, the power of crystallization produces an +inexhaustible supply of examples of symmetrical beauty. And what are we +to conceive to be the object and purpose of this? As we have said, that +part of the purpose which is intelligible to us is, that we have here a +force holding together the particles of bodies, so as to make them +solid. But all these pretty shapes add nothing to this intelligible use. +Why then are they there? They are there, it would seem, for their own +sake;--because they are pretty;--symmetry and beauty are there on their +own account; or because they are universal adjuncts of the general laws +by which the creator works. Or rather we may say, combining different +branches of our knowledge, that crystallization is the mark and +accompaniment of chemical composition: and that as chemical composition +takes place according to definite numbers, so crystalline aggregation +takes place according to definite forms. The symmetrical relations of +space in crystals correspond to the simple relations of number in +synthesis; and thus, because there is rule, there is regularity, and +regularity assumes the form of beauty. + +28. This, which thus shows itself throughout the mineral kingdom, or, +speaking more widely and truly, throughout the whole range of chemical +composition, is still more manifest in the vegetable domain. All the +vast array of flowers, so infinitely various, and so beautiful in their +variety, are the results of a few general laws; and show, in the degree +of their symmetry, the alternate operation of one law and another. The +rose, the lily, the cowslip, the violet, differ in something of the same +way, in which the crystalline forms of the several gems differ. Their +parts are arranged in fives or in threes, in pentagons or in hexagons, +and in these regular forms, one part or another is expanded or +contracted, rendered conspicuous by color or by shape, so as to produce +all the multiplicity of beauty which the florist admires. Or rather, in +the eye of the philosophical botanist, the whole of the structure of +plants, with all their array of stems and leaves, blossoms and fruits, +is but the manifestation of one Law; and all these members of the +vegetable form, are, in their natures, the same, developed more or less +in this way or in that. The daisy consists of a close cluster of flowers +of which each has, in its form, the rudiments of the valerian. The +peablossom is a rose, with some of its petals expanded into +butterfly-like wings. Even without changing the species, this general +law leads to endless changes. The garden-rose is the common hedge-rose +with innumerable filaments changed into glowing petals. By the addition +of whorl to whorl, of vegetable coronet over coronet, green and colored, +broad and narrow, filmy and rigid, every plant is generated, and the +glory of the field and of the garden, of the jungle and of the forest, +is brought forth in all its magnificence. Here, then, we have an +immeasurable wealth of beauty and regularity, brought to view by the +operation of a single law. And to what use? What purpose do these +beauties answer? What is the object for which the lilies of the field +are clothed so gaily and gorgeously? Some plants, indeed, are +subservient to the use of animals and of man: but how small is the +number in which we can trace this, as an intelligent purpose of their +existence! And does it not, in fact, better express the impression which +the survey of this province of nature suggests to us, to say, that they +grow because the Creator willed that they should grow? Their vegetable +life was an object of His care and contrivance, as well as animal and +human life. And they are beautiful, also because He willed that they +should be so:--because He delights in producing beauty;--and, as we have +further tried to make it appear, because He acts by general law, and law +produces beauty. Is not such a tendency here apparent, as a part of the +general scheme of Creation? + +29. We have already attempted to show, that in the structure of animals, +especially that large class best known to us, vertebrate animals, there +is also a general plan which, so far as we can see, goes beyond the +circuit of the special adaptation of each animal to its mode of living: +and is a rule of creative action, in addition to the rule that the parts +shall be subservient to an intelligible purpose of animal life. We have +noticed several phenomena in the animal kingdom, where parts and +features appear, rudimentary and inert, discharging no office in their +economy, and speaking to us, not of purpose, but of law:--consistent +with an end which is visible, but seemingly the results of a rule whose +end is in itself. + +30. And do we not, in innumerable cases, see beauties of color and form, +texture and lustre, which suggests to us irresistibly the belief that +beauty and regular form are rules of the Creative agency, even when they +seem to us, looking at the creation for uses only, idle and wanton +expenditure of beauty and regularity. To what purpose are the host of +splendid circles which decorate the tail of the peacock, more beautiful, +each of them, than Saturn with his rings? To what purpose the exquisite +textures of microscopic objects, more curiously regular than anything +which the telescope discloses? To what purpose the gorgeous colors of +tropical birds and insects, that live and die where human eye never +approaches to admire them? To what purpose the thousands of species of +butterflies with the gay and varied embroidery of their microscopic +plumage, of which one in millions, if seen at all, only draws the +admiration of the wandering schoolboy? To what purpose the delicate and +brilliant markings of shells, which live, generation after generation, +in the sunless and sightless depths of the ocean? Do not all these +examples, to which we might add countless others, (for the world, so far +as human eye has scanned it, is full of them,) prove that beauty and +regularity are universal features of the work of Creation, in all its +parts, small and great: and that we judge in a way contrary to a vast +range of analogy, which runs through the whole of the Universe, when we +infer that, because the objects which are presented to our contemplation +are beautiful in aspect and regular in form, they must, in each case, be +means for some special end, of those which we commonly fix upon, as the +main ends of the Creation, the support and advantage of animals or of +man? + +31. If this be so, then the beautiful and regular objects which the +telescope reveals to us; Jupiter and his Moons, Saturn and his Rings, +the most regular of the Double Stars, Clusters and Nebulae; cannot +reasonably be inferred, because they are beautiful and regular, to be +also fields of life, or scenes of thought. They may be, as to the poet's +eye they often appear, the gems of the robe of Night, the flowers of the +celestial fields. Like gems and like flowers, they are beautiful and +regular, because they are brought into being by vast and general laws. +These laws, although, in the mind of the Creator, they have their +sufficient reason, as far as they extend, may have, in no other region +than that which we inhabit, the reason which we seek to discover +everywhere, the sustentation of a life like ours. That we should connect +with the existence of such laws, the existence of Mind like our own +mind, is most natural; and, as we might easily show, is justifiable, +reasonable, even necessary. But that we should suppose the result of +such laws are so connected with Mind, that wherever the laws gather +matter into globes, and whirl it round the central body, _there_ is also +a local seat of minds like ours; is an assumption altogether +unwarranted; and is, without strong evidence, of which we have as yet no +particle, quite visionary. + +32. But finally, it may be said that by this our view of the universe, +we diminish the greatness of the work of creation, and the majesty of +the Creator. Such a view appears to represent the other planets as mere +fragments, which have flown off in the fabrication of this our earth, +and of the mechanism by which it answers its purpose. Instead of a vast +array of completed worlds, we have one world, surrounded by abortive +worlds and inert masses. Instead of perfection everywhere, we have +imperfection everywhere, except at one spot; if even there the +workmanship be perfect. + +33. To this, the reply is contained in what we have already said: but we +may add, that it cannot be wise or right, to prop up our notions of +God's greatness, by physical doctrines which will not bear discussion. +God's greatness has no need of man's inventions for its support. The +very conviction that the Creation must be such as to confirm our belief +in the greatness of God, shows that such a belief is more deeply seated +than any special views of the structure of the universe, and will +triumphantly survive the removal of error in such views. We may add, +that till within a few thousand years, this earth, compared with what it +now is, having upon it no intelligent beings, might be regarded as an +abortive world; that all the parts of the solar system which we can best +scrutinize, the moon, and meteoric stones, are inert masses; and +further, that there is everywhere the perfection which results from the +operation of law, and that _that_ seems to be the perfection with which +the Creator is contented. + +34. And perhaps, when the view of the universe which we here present has +become familiar, we may be led to think that the aspect which it gives +to the mode of working of the Creator, is sufficiently grand and +majestic. Instead of manufacturing a multitude of worlds on patterns +more or less similar, He has been employed in one great work, which we +cannot call imperfect, since it includes and suggests all that we can +conceive of perfection. It may be that all the other bodies, which we +can discover in the universe, show the greatness of this work, and are +rolled into forms of symmetry and order, into masses of light and +splendor, by the vast whirl which the original creative energy imparted +to the luminous element. The planets and the stars are the lumps which +have flown from the potter's wheel of the Great Worker;--the shred-coils +which, in the working, sprang from His mighty lathe:--the sparks which +darted from His awful anvil when the solar system lay incandescent +thereon;--the curls of vapor which rose from the great cauldron of +creation when its elements were separated. If even these superfluous +portions of the material are marked with universal traces of regularity +and order, this shows that universal rules are his implements, and that +Order is the first and universal Law of the heavenly work. + +35. And, that we may see the full dignity of this work, we must always +recollect that Man is a part of it, and the crowning part. The +workmanship which is employed on mere matter is, after all, of small +account, in the eyes of intellectual and moral creatures, when compared +with the creation and government of intellectual and moral creatures. +The majesty of God does not reside in planets and stars, in orbs and +systems; which are, after all, only stone and vapor, materials and +means. If, as we believe, God has not only made the material world, but +has made and governs man, we need not regret to have to depress any +portion of the material world below the place which we had previously +assigned to it; for, when all is done, the material world _must_ be put +in an inferior place, compared with the world of mind. If there be a +World of Mind, _that_, according to all that we can conceive, must have +been better worth creating, must be more worthy to exist, as an object +of care in the eyes of the Creator, than thousands and millions of stars +and planets, even if they were occupied by a myriad times as many +species of brute animals as have lived upon the earth since its +vivification. In saying this, we are only echoing the common voice of +mankind, uttered, as so often it is, by the tongues of poets. One such +speaks thus of stellar systems: + + Behold this midnight splendor, worlds on worlds; + Ten thousand add and twice ten thousand more, + Then weigh the whole: one soul outweighs them all, + And calls the seeming vast magnificence + Of unintelligent creation, poor. + +And as this is true of intelligence, with the suggestion which that +faculty so naturally offers, of the inextinguishable nature of mind, so +is it true of the moral nature of man. No accumulation of material +grandeur, even if it fill the universe, has any dignity in our eyes, +compared with moral grandeur: as poetry has also expressed: + + Look then abroad through nature, to the range + Of planets, suns, and adamantine spheres, + Wheeling unshaken through the void immense, + And speak, O man! Can this capacious scene + With half that kindling majesty exalt + Thy strong conception, as when Brutus rose + Refulgent from the stroke of Caesar's fate + Amid the band of patriots; and his arm + Aloft extending, like eternal Jove + When guilt calls down the thunder, call'd aloud + On Tully's name, and shook his crimson steel, + And bade the Father of his Country, Hail! + For lo! the tyrant prostrate in the dust, + And Rome again is free. + +This action being taken, as it is here meant to be conceived, for one of +the highest examples of moral greatness. And however we may judge of +this action, we must allow that the characters which are implied in this +praise of it,--the loftiest kinds of moral excellence,--are more +suitable to the highest idea of the object and purpose of a Deity +creating worlds, than would be any mere material structure of planets +and suns, whether kept in their places by adamantine spheres, wheeling +unshaken through the void immense, or themselves wheeling unshaken by +the power of a universal law. The thoughts of Rights and Obligations, +Duty and Virtue, of Law and Liberty, of Country and Constitution, of the +Glory of our Ancestors, the Elevation of our Fellow-Citizens, the +Freedom and Happiness and Dignity of Posterity,--are thoughts which +belong to a world, a race, a body of beings, of which any one +individual, with the capacities which such thoughts imply, is more +worthy of account, than millions of millions of mollusks and belemnites, +lizards and fishes, sloths and pachyderms, diffused through myriads of +worlds. + +36. We might illustrate this argument further, by taking actions of the +moral character of which there will be less doubt. If we look at the +great acts which render Greece illustrious and interesting in our +eyes,--such as the death of Socrates, for instance, the triumph of a +reverence for Law and a love of country;--can we think it any real +diminution of the glory of the universe, if we are reduced to the +necessity of rejecting the belief in a multitude of worlds, which +though, it may be, peopled with lower animals, contain none endowed with +any higher principle than hunger and thirst? + +37. That the human race possesses a worth in the eyes of Reason beyond +that which any material structure, or any brute population can possess, +might be maintained on still higher and stronger grounds; namely, on +religious grounds: but we do not intend here to dwell on that part of +the subject. If man be, not merely (and he alone of all animals) capable +of Virtue and Duty, of Universal Love and Self-Devotion, but be also +immortal; if his being be of infinite duration, his soul created never +to die; then, indeed, we may well say that one soul outweighs the whole +unintelligent creation. And if the Earth have been the scene of an +action of Love and Self-Devotion for the incalculable benefit of the +whole human race, in comparison with which the death of Socrates fades +into a mere act of cheerful resignation to the common lot of humanity; +and if this action, and its consequences to the whole race of man, in +his temporal and eternal destiny, and in his history on earth before and +after it, were the main object for which man was created, the cardinal +point round which the capacities and the fortunes of the race were to +turn; then indeed we see that the Earth has a pre-eminence in the scheme +of creation, which may well reconcile us to regard all the material +splendor which surrounds it, all the array of mere visible luminaries +and masses which accompany it, as no unfitting appendages to such a +drama. The elevation of millions of intellectual, moral, religious, +spiritual creatures, to a destiny so prepared, consummated, and +developed, is no unworthy occupation of all the capacities of space, +time, and matter. And, so far as any one has yet shown, to regard this +great scheme as other than the central point of the divine plan; to +consider it as one part among other parts, similar, co-ordinate, or +superior; involves those who so speculate, in difficulties, even with +regard to the plan itself, which they strive in vain to reconcile; while +the assumption of the subjects of such a plan, in other regions of the +universe, is at variance with all which we, looking at the analogies of +space and time, of earth and stars, of life in brutes and in man, have +found reason to deem in any degree probable. + +38. And thus that conjecture of the Plurality of Worlds, to which a wide +and careful examination of the physical constitution of the Universe +supplied no confirmation, derives also little support from a +contemplation of the Design which the Creator may be supposed to have +had in the work of the Creation; when such Design is regarded in a +comprehensive manner, and in all its bearings. Such a survey seems to +speak rather in favor of the Unity of the World, than of a Plurality of +Worlds. A further consideration of the intellectual, moral, and +religious nature of man may still further illustrate this view; and with +that object, we shall make a few additional remarks. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The greatest anatomists, and especially Mr. Owen, have recently +expressed their conviction, that researches on the structure of animals +must be guided by the principle of _unity of composition_ as well as the +principle of _final causes_. See Owen _On the Nature of Limbs_. + +[2] This has been termed by physiologists _The Law of the Development +from the General to the Special_. + +[3] Every reader of physiological works knows how easy it would be to +multiply examples of this kind to any extent. Thus it is held by +physiologists, that the sporules of fungi are universally diffused +through the atmosphere, ready to vegetate whenever an opportunity +presents itself: and that a single individual produces not less than ten +millions of germs. It is held also that innumerable seeds of plants +still capable of vegetation, lie in strata far below the earth's +surface, finding the occasion to vegetate only by the rarest and most +exceptional occurrences.--Carpenter, _Manual of Physiology_. 1851, Art. +44. + +[4] Chalmers, p. 35. + +[5] Ibid. p. 21 + +[6] Ibid. p. 119. + +[7] Dr. Scoresby, in his _Account of the Arctic Regions_ (1820) Vol. II. +has given figures of 96 such forms, selected for their eminent +regularity from many more. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE UNITY OF THE WORLD. + + +1. The two doctrines which we have here to weigh against each other are +the Plurality of Worlds, and the Unity of the World. In so saying, we +include in our present view, a necessary part of the conception of a +_World_, a collection of intelligent creatures: for even if the +suppositions to which we have been led, respecting the kind of +unintelligent living things which may inhabit other parts of the +Universe, be conceived to be probable; such a belief will have little +interest for most persons, compared with the belief of other worlds, +where reside intelligence, perception of truth, recognition of moral +Law, and reverence for a Divine Creator and Governor. In looking +outwards at the Universe, there are certain aspects which suggest to +man, at first sight, a conjecture that there may be other bodies like +the Earth, tenanted by other creatures like man. This conjecture, +however, receives no confirmation from a closer inquiry, with increased +means of observation. Let us now look inwards, at the constitution of +man; and consider some characters of his nature, which seem to remove or +lessen the difficulties which we may at first feel, in regarding the +Earth as, in a unique and special manner, the field of God's Providence +and Government. + +2. In the first place, the Earth, as the abode of man, the intellectual +creature, contains a being, whose mind is, in some measure, of the same +nature as the Divine Mind of the Creator. The Laws which man discovers +in the Creation must be Laws known to God. The truths,--for instance the +truths of geometry,--which man sees to be true, God also must see to be +true. That there were, from the beginning, in the Creative Mind, +Creative Thoughts, is a doctrine involved in every intelligent view of +Creation. + +3. This doctrine was presented by the ancients in various forms; and the +most recent scientific discoveries have supplied new illustrations of +it. The mode in which Plato expressed the doctrine which we are here +urging was, that there were in the Divine Mind, before or during the +work of creation, certain archetypal Ideas, certain exemplars or +patterns of the world and its parts, according to which the work was +performed: so that these Ideas or Exemplars existed in the objects +around us being in so many cases discernible by man, and being the +proper objects of human reason. If a mere metaphysician were to attempt +to revive this mode of expressing the doctrine, probably his +speculations would be disregarded, or treated as a pedantic +resuscitation of obsolete Platonic dreams. But the adoption of such +language must needs be received in a very different manner, when it +proceeds from a great discoverer in the field of natural knowledge: when +it is, as it were, forced upon _him_, as the obvious and appropriate +expression of the result of the most profound and comprehensive +researches into the frame of the whole animal creation. The recent works +of Mr. Owen, and especially one work, _On the Nature of Limbs_, are full +of the most energetic and striking passages, inculcating the doctrine +which we have been endeavoring to maintain. We may take the liberty of +enriching our pages with one passage bearing upon the present part of +the subject. + +"If the world were made by any antecedent Mind or Understanding, that +is by a Deity, then there must needs be an Idea and Exemplar of the +whole world before it was made, and consequently actual knowledge, both +in the order of Time and Nature, before Things. But conceiving of +knowledge as it was got by their own finite minds, and ignorant of any +evidence of an ideal Archetype for the world or any part of it, they +[the Democritic Philosophers who denied a Divine Creative Mind] affirmed +that there was none, and concluded that there could be no knowledge or +mind before the world was, as its cause." Plato's assertion of +Archetypal Ideas was a protest against this doctrine, but was rather a +guess, suggested by the nature of mathematical demonstration, than a +doctrine derived from a contemplation of the external world. + +"Now however," Mr. Owen continues, "the recognition of an ideal exemplar +for the vertebrated animals proves that the knowledge of such a being as +Man must have existed before Man appeared. For the Divine Mind which +planned the Archetypal also foreknew all its modifications. The +Archetypal Idea was manifested in the flesh under divers modifications +upon this planet, long prior to the existence of those animal species +which actually exemplify it. To what natural or secondary causes the +orderly succession and progression of such organic phenomena may have +been committed, we are as yet ignorant. But if without derogation to the +Divine Power, we may conceive such ministers and personify them by the +term _Nature_, we learn from the past history of our globe that she has +advanced with slow and stately steps, guided by the archetypal light +amidst the wreck of worlds, from the first embodiment of the vertebrate +idea, under its old ichthyic vestment, until it became arrayed in the +glorious garb of the human form." + +4. Law implies a Lawgiver, even when we do not see the object of the +Law; even as Design implies a Designer, when we do not see the object of +the Design. The Laws of Nature are the indications of the operation of +the Divine Mind; and are revealed to us, as such, by the operations of +our minds, by which we come to discover them. They are the utterances of +the Creator, delivered in language which we can understand; and being +thus Language, they are the utterances of an Intelligent Spirit. + +5. It may seem to some persons too bold a view, to identify, so far as +we thus do, certain truths as seen by man, and as seen by God:[1]--to +make the Divine Mind thus cognizant of the truths of geometry, for +instance. If any one has such a scruple, we may remark that truth, when +of so luminous and stable a kind as are the truths of geometry, must be +alike _Truth_ for all minds, even for the highest. The mode of arriving +at the knowledge of such truths, may be very different, even for +different human minds;--deduction for some;--intuition for others. But +the intuitive apprehension of necessary truth is an act so purely +intellectual, that even in the Supreme Intellect, we may suppose that it +has its place. Can we conceive otherwise, than that God does contemplate +the universe as existing in space, since it really does so;--and subject +to the relations of space, since these are as real as space itself? We +are well aware that the Supreme Being must contemplate the world under +many other aspects than this;--even man does so. But that does not +prevent the truths, which belong to the aspect of the world, +contemplated as existing in space, from being truths, regarded as such, +even by the Divine Mind. + +6. If these reflections are well founded, as we trust they will, on +consideration, be seen to be, we may adopt many of the expressions by +which philosophers heretofore have attempted to convey similar views; +for in fact, this view, in its general bearing at least, is by no means +new. The Mind of Man is a partaker of the thoughts of the Divine Mind. +The Intellect of Man is a spark of the Light by which the world was +created. The Ideas according to which man builds up his knowledge, are +emanations of the archetypal Ideas according to which the work of +creation was planned and executed. These, and many the like expressions, +have been often used; and we now see, we may trust, that there is a +great philosophical truth, which they all tend to convey; and this truth +shows at the same time, how man may have some knowledge respecting the +Laws of Nature, and how this knowledge may, in some cases, seem to be a +knowledge of necessary relations, as in the case of space.[2] + +7. Now, the views to which we have been led, bear very strongly upon +that argument. For if man, when he attains to a knowledge of such laws, +is really admitted, in some degree, to the view with which the Creator +himself beholds his creation;--if we can gather, from the conditions of +such knowledge, that his intellect partakes of the Nature of the Supreme +Intellect;--if his Mind, in its clearest and largest contemplations, +harmonizes with the Divine Mind;--we have, in this, a reason which may +well seem to us very powerful, why, even if the Earth alone be the +habitation of intelligent beings, still, the great work of Creation is +not wasted. If God have placed upon the earth a creature who can so far +sympathize with Him, if we may venture upon the expression;--who can +raise his intellect into some accordance with the Creative Intellect; +and that, not once only, nor by few steps, but through an indefinite +gradation of discoveries, more and more comprehensive, more and more +profound; each, an advance, however slight, towards a Divine +Insight;--then, so far as intellect alone (and we are here speaking of +intellect alone) can make Man a worthy object of all the vast +magnificence of Creative Power, we can hardly shrink from believing that +he is so. + +8. We may remark further, that this view of God, as the Author of the +Laws of the Universe, leads to a view of all the phenomena and objects +of the world, as the work of God; not a work made, and laid out of hand, +but a field of his present activity and energy. And such a view cannot +fail to give an aspect of dignity to all that is great in creation, and +of beauty to all that is symmetrical, which otherwise they could not +have. Accordingly, it is by calling to their thoughts the presence of +God as suggested by scenes of grandeur or splendor, that poets often +reach the sympathies of their readers. And this dignity and sublimity +appear especially to belong to the larger objects, which are destitute +of conscious life; as the mountain, the glacier, the pine-forest, the +ocean; since in these, we are, as it were, alone with God, and the only +present witnesses of His mysterious working. + +9. Now if this reflection be true, the vast bodies which hang in the +sky, at such immense distances from us, and roll on their courses, and +spin round their axles with such exceeding rapidity; Jupiter and his +array of Moons, Saturn with his still larger host of Satellites, and +with his wonderful Ring, and the other large and distant Planets, will +lose nothing of their majesty, in our eyes, by being uninhabited; any +more than the summer-clouds, which perhaps are formed of the same +materials, lose their dignity from the same cause;--any more than our +Moon, one of the tribe of satellites, loses her soft and tender beauty, +when we have ascertained that she is more barren of inhabitants than the +top of Mount Blanc. However destitute the planets and moons and rings +may be of inhabitants, they are _at least vast scenes of God's +presence,_ and of the activity with which he carries into effect, +everywhere, the laws of nature. The light which comes to us from them is +transmitted according to laws which He has established, by an energy +which He maintains. The remotest planet is not devoid of life, for God +lives there. At each stage which we make, from planet to planet, from +star to star, into the regions of infinity, we may say, with the +patriarch, "Surely God is here, and I knew it not." And when those who +question the habitability of the remote planets and stars are reproached +as presenting a view of the universe, which takes something from the +magnificence hitherto ascribed to it, as the scene of God's glory, shown +in the things which He has created; they may reply, that they do not at +all disturb that glory of the creation which arises from its being, not +only the product, but the constant field of God's activity and thought, +wisdom and power; and they may perhaps ask, in return, whether the +dignity of the Moon would be greatly augmented if her surface were +ascertained to be abundantly peopled with lizards; or whether Mount +Blanc would be more sublime, if millions of frogs were known to live in +the crevasses of its glaciers. + +10. Again: the Earth is a scene of Moral Trial. Man is subject to a +Moral Law; and this Moral Law is a Law of which God is the Legislator. +It is a law which man has the power of discovering, by the use of the +faculties which God has given him. By considering the nature and +consequences of actions, man is able to discern, in a great measure, +what is right and what is wrong;--what he ought and what he ought not to +do;--what his duty and virtue, what his crime and vice. Man has a Law on +such subjects, written on his heart, as the Apostle Paul says. He has a +conscience which accuses or excuses him; and thus, recognizes his acts +as worthy of condemnation or approval. And thus, man is, and knows +himself to be, the subject of Divine Law, commanding and prohibiting; +and is here, in a state of probation, as to how far he will obey or +disobey this Law. He has impulses, springs of action, which urge him to +the violation of this Law. Appetite, Desire, Anger, Lust, Greediness, +Envy, Malice, impel him to courses which are vicious. But these impulses +he is capable of resisting and controlling;--of avoiding the vices and +practising the opposite virtues;--and of rising from one stage of Virtue +to another, by a gradual and successive purification and elevation of +the desires, affections and habits, in a degree, so far as we know, +without limit. + +11. Now in considering the bearing of this view upon our original +subject, we have, in the first place, to make this remark: that the +existence of a body of creatures, capable of such a Law, of such a +Trial, and of such an Elevation as this, is, according to all that we +can conceive, an object infinitely more worthy of the exertion of the +Divine Power and Wisdom, in the Creation of the universe, than any +number of planets occupied by creatures having no such lot, no such law, +no such capacities, and no such responsibilities. However imperfectly +the moral law be obeyed; however ill the greater part of mankind may +respond to the appointment which places them here in a state of moral +probation; however few those may be who use the capacities and means of +their moral purification and elevation;--still, that there is such a +plan in the creation, and that any respond to its appointments,--is +really a view of the Universe which we can conceive to be suitable to +the nature of God, because we can approve of it, in virtue of the moral +nature which He has given us. One school of moral discipline, one +theatre of moral action, one arena of moral contests for the highest +prizes, is a sufficient centre for innumerable hosts of stars and +planets, globes of fire and earth, water and air, whether or not +tenanted by corals and madrepores, fishes and creeping things. So great +and majestic are those names of _Right_ and _Good_, _Duty_ and _Virtue_, +that all mere material or animal existence is worthless in the +comparison. + +12. But further: let us consider what is this moral progress of which we +have spoken;--this purification and elevation of man's inner being. +Man's intellectual progress, his advance in the knowledge of the general +laws of the Universe, we found reason to believe that we were not +describing unfitly, when we spoke of it as bringing us nearer to +God;--as making our thoughts, in some degree, resemble His thoughts;--as +enabling us to see things as He sees them. And on that account, we held +that the placing man, with his intellectual powers, in a condition in +which he was impelled, and enabled, to seek such knowledge, was of +itself a great thing, and tended much to give to the Creation a worthy +end. Now the moral elevation of man's being is the elevation of his +sentiments and affections towards a standard or idea, which God, by his +Law, has indicated as that point towards which man ought to tend. We do +not ascribe _Virtue_ to God, adapting to Him our notions taken from +man's attributes, as we do when we ascribe Knowledge to God: for Virtue +implies the control and direction of human springs of action;--implies +human efforts and human habits. But we ascribe to God infinite Goodness, +Justice, and Truth, as well as infinite Wisdom and Power; and Goodness, +Justice, Truth, form elements of the character at which man also is, by +the Moral Law, directed to aim. So far, therefore, man's moral progress +is a progress towards a likeness with God; and such a progress, even +more than a progress towards an intellectual likeness with God, may be +conceived as making the soul of man fit to endure forever with God; and +therefore, as making this earth a prefatory stage of human souls, to fit +them for eternity;--a nursery of plants which are to be fully unfolded +in a celestial garden. + +13. And to this, we must add that, on other accounts also, as well as on +account of the capacity of the human soul for moral and intellectual +progress, thoughtful men have always been disposed, on grounds supplied +by the light of nature, to believe in the existence of human souls after +this present earthly life is past. Such a belief has been cherished in +all ages and nations, as the mode in which we naturally conceive that +which is apparently imperfect and deficient in the moral government of +the world, to be completed and perfected. And if this mortal life be +thus really only the commencement of an infinite Divine Plan, beginning +upon earth and destined to endure for endless ages after our earthly +life; we need no array of other worlds in the universe to give +sufficient dignity and majesty to the scheme of the Creation. + +14. We may make another remark which may have an important bearing upon +our estimate of the value of the moral scheme of the world which +occupies the earth. If, by any act of the Divine Government, the number +of those men should be much increased, who raise themselves towards the +moral standard which God has appointed, and thus, towards a likeness to +God, and a prospect of a future eternal union with him;--such an act of +Divine Government would do far more towards making the Universe a scene +in which God's goodness and greatness were largely displayed, than could +be done by any amount of peopling of planets with creatures who were +incapable of moral agency; or with creatures whose capacity for the +development of their moral faculties was small, and would continue to be +small till such an act of Divine Government were performed. The +Interposition of God, in the history of man, to remedy man's feebleness +in moral and spiritual tasks, and to enable those who profit by the +Interposition, to ascend towards a union with God, is an event entirely +out of the range of those natural courses of events which belong to our +subject; and to such an Interposition, therefore, we must refer with +great reserve; using great caution that we do not mix up speculations +and conjectures of our own, with what has been revealed to man +concerning such an Interposition. But this, it would seem, we may +say:--that such a Divine Interposition for the moral and spiritual +elevation of the human race, and for the encouragement and aid of those +who seek the purification and elevation of their nature, and an eternal +union with God, is far more suitable to the Idea of a God of Infinite +Goodness, Purity, and Greatness, than any supposed multiplication of a +population, (on our planet or on any other,) not provided with such +means of moral and spiritual progress. + +15. And if we were, instead of such a supposition, to imagine to +ourselves, in other regions of the Universe, a moral population purified +and elevated without the aid or need of any such Divine Interposition; +the supposed possibility of such a moral race would make the sin and +misery, which deform and sadden the aspect of our earth, appear more +dark and dismal still. We should therefore, it would seem, find no +theological congruity, and no religious consolation, in the assumption +of a Plurality of Worlds of Moral Beings: while, to place the seats of +such worlds in the Stars and the Planets, would be, as we have already +shown, a step discountenanced by physical reasons; and discountenanced +the more, the more the light of science is thrown upon it. + +16. Perhaps it may be said, that all which we have urged to show that +other animals, in comparison with man, are less worthy objects of +creative design, may be used as an argument to prove that other planets +are tenanted by men, or by moral and intellectual creatures like man; +since, if the creation of _one_ world of such creatures exalts so highly +our views of the dignity and importance of the plan of creation, the +belief in _many_ such worlds must elevate still more our sentiments of +admiration and reverence of the greatness and goodness of the Creator; +and must be a belief, on that account, to be accepted and cherished by +pious minds. + +17. To this we reply, that we cannot think ourselves authorized to +assert cosmological doctrines, selected arbitrarily by ourselves, on the +ground of their exalting our sentiments of admiration and reverence for +the Deity, _when the weight of all the evidence which we can obtain +respecting the constitution of the universe is against them_. It appears +to us, that to discern one great scheme of moral and religious +government, which is the spiritual centre of the universe, may well +suffice for the religious sentiments of men in the present age; as in +former ages such a view of creation was sufficient to overwhelm men with +feelings of awe, and gratitude, and love; and to make them confess, in +the most emphatic language, that all such feelings were an inadequate +response to the view of the scheme of Providence which was revealed to +them. The thousands of millions of inhabitants of the Earth to whom the +effects of the Divine Plan extend, will not seem, to the greater part of +religious persons, to need the addition of more, to fill our minds with +sufficiently vast and affecting contemplations, so far as we are capable +of pursuing such contemplations. The possible extension of God's +spiritual kingdom upon the earth will probably appear to them a far more +interesting field of devout meditation, than the possible addition to it +of the inhabitants of distant stars, connected in some inscrutable +manner with the Divine Plan. + +18. To justify our saying that the weight of the evidence is against +such cosmological doctrines, we must recall to the reader's recollection +the whole course of the argument which we have been pursuing. + +It is a possible conjecture, at first, that there may be other Worlds, +having, as this has, their moral and intellectual attributes, and their +relations to the Creator. It is also a possible conjecture, that this +World, having such attributes, and such relations, may, on that account, +be necessarily unique and incapable of repetition, peculiar, and +spiritually central. These two opposite possibilities may be placed, at +first, front to front, as balancing each other. We must then weigh such +evidence and such analogies as we can find on the one side or on the +other. We see much in the intellectual and moral nature of man, and in +his history, to confirm the opinion that the human race is thus unique, +peculiar and central. In the views which Religion presents, we find much +more, tending the same way, and involving the opposite supposition in +great difficulties. We find, in our knowledge of what we ourselves are, +reasons to believe that if there be, in any other planet, intellectual +and moral beings, they must not only be _like_ men, but must _be_ men, +in all the attributes which we can conceive as belonging to such beings. +And yet to suppose other groups of the human species, in other parts of +the universe, must be allowed to be a very bold hypothesis, to be +justified only by some positive evidence in its favor. When from these +views, drawn from the attributes and relations of man, we turn to the +evidence drawn from physical conditions, we find very strong reason to +believe that, so far as the Solar System is concerned, the Earth _is_, +with regard to the conditions of life, in a peculiar and central +position; so that the conditions of any life approaching at all to human +life, exist on the Earth alone. As to other systems which may circle +other suns, the possibility of their being inhabited by men, remains, as +at first, a mere conjecture, without any trace of confirmatory evidence. +It was suggested at first by the supposed analogy of other stars to our +sun; but this analogy has not been verified in any instance; and has +been, we conceive, shown in many cases, to vanish altogether. And that +there may be such a plan of creation,--one in which the moral and +intelligent race of man is the climax and central point to which +innumerable races of mere unintelligent species tend,--we have the most +striking evidence, in the history of our own earth, as disclosed by +geology. We are left, therefore, with nothing to cling to, on one side, +but the bare possibility that some of the stars are the centres of +systems like the Solar System;--an opinion founded upon the single +fact, shown to be highly ambiguous, of those stars being self-luminous; +and to this possibility, we oppose all the considerations, flowing from +moral, historical, and religious views, which represent the human race +as unique and peculiar. The force of these considerations will, of +course, be different in different minds, according to the importance +which each person attaches to such moral, historical, and religious +views; but whatever the weight of them may be deemed, it is to be +recollected that we have on the other side a bare possibility, a mere +conjecture; which, though suggested at first by astronomical +discoveries, all more recent astronomical researches have failed to +confirm in the smallest degree. In this state of our knowledge, and with +such grounds of belief, to dwell upon the Plurality of Worlds of +intellectual and moral creatures, as a highly probable doctrine, must, +we think, be held to be eminently rash and unphilosophical. + +19. On such a subject, where the evidences are so imperfect, and our +power of estimating analogies so small, far be it from us to speak +positively and dogmatically. And if any one holds the opinion, on +whatever evidence, that there are other spheres of the Divine Government +than this earth,--other regions in which God has subjects and +servants,--other beings who do his will, and who, it may be, are +connected with the moral and religious interests of man;--we do not +breathe a syllable against such a belief; but, on the contrary, regard +it with a ready and respectful sympathy. It is a belief which finds an +echo in pious and reverent hearts;[3] and it is, of itself, an evidence +of that religious and spiritual character in man, which is one of the +points of our argument. But the discussion of such a belief does not +belong to the present occasion, any further than to observe, that it +would be very rash and unadvised,--a proceeding unwarranted, we think, +by Religion, and certainly at variance with all that Science +teaches,--to place those other, extra-human spheres of Divine +Government, in the Planets and in the Stars. With regard to the planets +and the stars, if we reason at all, we must reason on physical grounds; +we must suppose, as to a great extent we can prove that the laws and +properties of terrestrial matter and motion apply to them also. On such +grounds, it is as improbable that visitants from Jupiter or from Sirius +can come to the Earth, as that men can pass to those stars: as unlikely +that inhabitants of those stars know and take an interest in human +affairs, as that we can learn what they are doing. A belief in the +Divine Government of other races of spiritual creatures besides the +human race, and in Divine Ministrations committed to such beings, cannot +be connected with our physical and astronomical views of the nature of +the stars and the planets, without making a mixture altogether +incongruous and incoherent; a mixture of what is material and what is +spiritual, adverse alike to sound religion and to sound philosophy. + +20. Perhaps again, it may be said, that in speaking of the shortness of +the time during which man has occupied the earth, in comparison with the +previous ages of irrational life, and of blank matter, we are taking man +at his present period of existence on the earth:--that we do not know +that the race may not be destined to continue upon the earth for as many +ages as preceded the creation of man. And to this we reply, that in +reasoning, as we must do, at the present period, we can only proceed +upon that which has happened up to the present period. If we do not +know how long man will continue to inhabit the earth, we cannot reason +as if we did know that he will inhabit it longer than any other species +has done. We may not dwell upon a mere possibility, which, it is +assumed, may at some indefinitely future period, alter the aspect of the +facts now before us. For it would be as easy to assume possibilities +which may come hereafter to alter the aspect of the facts, in favor of +the one side, as of the other.[4] What the future destinies of our race, +and of the earth, may be, is a subject which is, for us, shrouded in +deep darkness. It would be very rash to assume that they will be such as +to alter the impression derived from what we now know, and to alter it +in a certain preconceived manner. But yet it is natural to form +conjectures on this subject; and perhaps we may be allowed to consider +for a moment what kind of conjectures the existing stage of our +knowledge suggests, when we allow ourselves the license of conjecturing. +The next Chapter contains some remarks bearing upon such conjectures. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Among the most recent expositors of this doctrine we may place M. +Henri Martin, whose _Philosophie Spiritualiste de la Nature_ is full of +striking views of the universe in its relation to God. (Paris. 1849.) + +[2] Most readers who have given any attention to speculations of this +kind, will recollect Newton's remarkable expressions concerning the +Deity: "AEternus est et infinitus, omnipotens et omnisciens; id est, +durat ab aeterno in aeternum, et adest ab infinito in infinitum.... Non +est aeternitas et infinitas, sed aeternus et infinitus; non est duratio et +spatium, sed durat et adest. Durat semper et adest ubique, et existendo +semper et ubique durationem et spatium constituit." + +To say that God by existing always and everywhere _constitutes duration +and space_, appears to be a form of expression better avoided. Besides +that it approaches too near to the opinion, which the writer rejects, +that He _is_ duration and space, it assumes a knowledge of the nature of +the Divine existence, beyond our means of knowing, and therefore rashly. +It appears to be safer, and more in conformity with what we really know, +to say, not that the existence of God constitutes time and space; but +that God has constituted _man_, so that _he_ can apprehend the works of +creation, only as existing in time and space. That God has constituted +time and space as conditions of man's knowledge of the creation, is +certain: that God has constituted time and space as results of his own +existence in any other way, _we_ cannot know. + +[3] + "For doubt not that in other worlds above + There must be other offices of love, + That other tasks and ministries there are, + Since it is promised that His servants, there, + Shall serve Him still."--TRENCH. + +[4] For instance, we may assume that in two or three hundred years, by +the improvement of telescopes, or by other means, it may be ascertained +that the other planets of the Solar System are not inhabited, and that +the other Stars are not the centres of regular systems. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE FUTURE. + + +1. We proceed then to a few reflections to which we cannot but feel +ourselves invited by the views which we have already presented in these +pages. What will be the future history of the human race, and what the +future destination of each individual, most persons will, and most +wisely, judge on far other grounds than the analogies which physical +science can supply. Analogies derived from such a quarter can throw +little light on those grave and lofty questions. Yet perhaps a few +thoughts on this subject, even if they serve only to show how little the +light thus attainable really is, may not be an unfit conclusion to what +has been said; and the more so, if these analogies of science, so far as +they have any specific tendency, tend to confirm some of the +convictions, with regard to those weighty and solemn points,--the +destiny of Man, and of Mankind,--which we derive from other and higher +sources of knowledge. + +2. Man is capable of looking back upon the past history of himself, his +Race, the Earth, and the Universe. So far as he has the means of doing +so, and so far as his reflective powers are unfolded, he cannot refrain +from such a retrospect. As we have seen, man has occupied his thoughts +with such contemplations, and has been led to convictions thereupon, of +the most remarkable and striking kind. Man is also capable of looking +forwards to the future probable or possible history of himself, his +race, the earth, and the universe. He is irresistibly tempted to do +this, and to endeavor to shape his conjectures on the Future, by what he +knows of the Past. He attempts to discern what future change and +progress may be imagined or expected, by the analogy of past change and +progress, which have been ascertained. Such analogies may be necessarily +very vague and loose; but they are the peculiar ground of speculation, +with which we have here to deal. Perhaps man cannot discover with +certainty any fixed and permanent laws which have regulated those past +changes which have modified the surface and population of the earth; +still less, any laws which have produced a visible progression in the +constitution of the rest of the universe. He cannot, therefore, avail +himself of any close analogies, to help him to conjecture the future +course of events, on the earth or in the universe; still less can he +apply any known laws, which may enable him to predict the future +configurations of the elements of the world; as he can predict the +future configurations of the planets for indefinite periods. He can +foresee the astronomical revolutions of the heavens, so long as the +known laws subsist. He cannot foresee the future geological revolutions +of the earth, even if they are to be produced by the same causes which +have produced the past revolutions, of which he has learnt the series +and order. Still less can he foresee the future revolutions which may +take place in the condition of man, of society, of philosophy, of +religion; still less, again, the course which the Divine Government of +the world will take, or the state of things to which, even as now +conducted, it will lead. + +3. All these subjects are covered with a veil of mystery, which science +and philosophy can do little in raising. Yet these are subjects to +which the mind turns, with a far more eager curiosity, than that which +it feels with regard to mere geological or astronomical revolutions. Man +is naturally, and reasonably, the greatest object of interest to man. +What shall happen to the human race, after thousands of years, is a far +dearer concern to him, than what shall happen to Jupiter or Sirius; and +even, than what shall happen to the continents and oceans of the globe +on which he lives, except so far as the changes of his domicile affect +himself. If our knowledge of the earth and of the heavens, of animals +and of man, of the past condition and present laws of the world, is +quite barren of all suggestion of what may or may not hereafter be the +lot of man, such knowledge will lose the charm which would have made it +most precious and attractive in the eyes of mankind in general. And if, +on such subjects, any conjectures, however dubious,--any analogies, +however loose,--can be collected from what we know, they will probably +be received as acceptable, in spite of their insecurity; and will be +deemed a fit offering from the scientific faculty, to those hopes and +expectations,--to that curiosity and desire of all knowledge,--which +gladly receive their nutriment and gratification from every province of +man's being. + +4. Now if we ask, what is likely to be the future condition of the +population of the earth as compared with the present; we are naturally +led to recollect, what has been the past condition of that population as +compared with the present. And here, our thoughts are at once struck by +that great fact, to which we have so often referred; which we conceive +to be established by irrefragable geological evidence, and of which the +importance cannot be overrated:--namely, the fact that the existence of +man upon the earth has been for only a few thousand years:--that for +thousands, and myriads, and it may be for millions of years, previous +to that period, the earth was tenanted, entirely and solely, by brute +creatures, destitute of reason, incapable of progress, and guided merely +by animal instincts, in the preservation and continuation of their +races. After this period of mere brute existence, in innumerable forms, +had endured for a vast series of cycles, there appeared upon the earth a +creature, even in his organization, superior far to all; but still more +superior, in his possession of peculiar endowments;--reason, language, +the power of indefinite progress, and of raising his thoughts towards +his Creator and Governor: in short, to use terms already employed, an +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual creature. After the ages +of intellectual darkness, there took place this creation of intellectual +light. After the long-continued play of mere appetite and sensual life, +there came the operation of thought, reflection, invention, art, +science, moral sentiments, religious belief and hope; and thus, life and +being, in a far higher sense than had ever existed, even in the highest +degree, in the long ages of the earth's previous existence. + +5. Now, this great and capital fact cannot fail to excite in us many +reflections, which, however vaguely and dimly, carry us to the prospect +of the future. The present being _so_ related to the past, how may we +suppose that the future will be related to the present? + +In the first place, _this_ is a natural reflection. The terrestrial +world having made this advance from brute to human life, can we think it +at all likely, that the present condition of the earth's inhabitants is +a final condition? Has the vast step from animal to human life, +exhausted the progressive powers of nature? or to speak more reverently +and justly, has it completed the progressive plan of the Creator? After +the great revolution by which man became what he is, can and will +nothing be done, to bring into being something better than now is; +however that future creature may be related to man? We leave out of +consideration any supposed progression, which may have taken place in +the animal creation previous to man's existence; any progression by +which the animal organization was made to approximate, gradually or by +sudden steps, to the human organization; partly, because such successive +approximation is questioned by some geologists; and is, at any rate, +obscure and perplexed: but much more, because it is not really to our +purpose. Similarity of organization is not the point in question. The +endowments and capacities of man, by which he is Man, are the great +distinction, which places all other animals at an immeasurable distance +below him. The closest approximation of form or organs, does nothing to +obliterate this distinction. It does not bring the monkey nearer to man, +that his tongue has the same muscular apparatus as man's, so long as he +cannot talk; and so long as he has not the thought and idea which +language implies, and which are unfolded indefinitely in the use of +language. The step, then, by which the earth became, a _human_ +habitation, was an immeasurable advance on all that existed before; and +therefore there is a question which we are, it seems, irresistibly +prompted to ask, Is this the last such step? Is there nothing beyond it? +Man is the head of creation, in his present condition; but is that +condition the final result and ultimate goal of the progress of creation +in the plan of the Creator? As there was found and produced something so +far beyond animals, as man is, may there not also, in some course of the +revolutions of the world, be produced something far beyond what man is? +The question is put, as implying a difficulty in believing that it +should be so; and this difficulty must be very generally felt. +Considering how vast the resources of the Creative Power have been shown +to be, it is difficult to suppose they are exhausted. Considering how +great things have been done, in the progress of the work of creation, we +naturally think that even greater things than these, still remain to be +done. + +6. But then, on the other hand, there is an immense difficulty in +supposing, even in imagining, any further change, at all commensurate in +kind and degree, with the step which carried the world from a mere brute +population, to a human population. In a proportion in which the two +first terms are _brute_ and _man_, what can be the third term? In the +progress from mere Instinct to Reason, we have a progress from blindness +to sight; and what can we do more than see? When pure Intellect is +evolved in man, he approaches to the nature of the Supreme Mind: how can +a creature rise higher? When mere impulse, appetite, and passion are +placed under the control and direction of duty and virtue, man is put +under Divine Government: what greater lot can any created being have? + +7. And the difficulty of conceiving any ulterior step at all analogous +to the last and most wonderful of the revolutions which have taken place +in the condition of the earth's inhabitants, will be found to grow upon +us, as it is more closely examined. For it may truly be said, the change +which occurred when man was placed on the earth, was not one which could +have been imagined and constructed beforehand, by a speculator merely +looking at the endowments and capacities of the creatures which were +previously living. Even in the way of organization, could any +intelligent spectator, contemplating anything which then existed in the +animal world, have guessed the wonderful new and powerful purposes to +which it was to be made subservient in man? Could such a spectator, from +seeing the _rudiments of a Hand_, in the horse or the cow, or even from +seeing the hand of a quadrumanous animal, have conjectured, that the +Hand was, in man, to be made an instrument by which infinite numbers of +new instruments were to be constructed, subduing the elements to man's +uses, giving him a command over nature which might seem supernatural, +taming or conquering all other animals, enabling him to scrutinize the +farthest regions of the universe, and the subtlest combinations of +material things? + +8. Or again; could such a spectator, by dissecting the tongues of +animals, have divined that the Tongue, in man, was to be the means of +communicating the finest movements of thought and feeling; of giving one +man, weak and feeble, an unbounded ascendency over robust and angry +multitudes; and, assisted by the (writing) hand, of influencing the +intimate thoughts, laws, and habits of the most remote posterity? + +9. And again, could such a spectator, seeing animals entirely occupied +by their appetites and desires, and the objects subservient to their +individual gratification, have ever dreamt that there should appear on +earth a creature who should desire to know, and should know, the +distances and motions of the stars, future as well as present; the +causes of their motions, the history of the earth, and his own history; +and even should know truths by which all possible objects and events not +only are, but must be regulated? + +10. And yet again, could such a spectator, seeing that animals obeyed +their appetites with no restraint but external fear, and knew of no +difference of good and bad except the sensual difference, ever have +imagined that there should be a creature acknowledging a difference of +right and wrong, as a distinction supreme over what was good or bad to +the sense; and a rule of duty which might forbid and prevent +gratification by an internal prohibition? + +11. And finally, could such a spectator, seeing nothing but animals +with all their faculties thus entirely immersed in the elements of their +bodily being, have supposed that a creature should come, who should +raise his thoughts to his Creator, acknowledge Him as his Master and +Governor, look to His Judgment, and aspire to live eternally in His +presence? + +12. If it would have been impossible for a spectator of the praehuman +creation, however intelligent, imaginative, bold and inventive, to have +conjectured beforehand the endowments of such a creature as Man, taking +only those which we have thus indicated; it may well be thought, that if +there is to be a creature which is to succeed man, as man has succeeded +the animals, it must be equally impossible for us to conjecture +beforehand, what kind of creature _that_ must be, and what will be _his_ +endowments and privileges. + +13. Thus a spectator who should thus have studied the praehuman creation, +and who should have had nothing else to help him in his conjectures and +conceptions, (of course, by the supposition of a praehuman period, not +any knowledge of the operation of intelligence, though a most active +intelligence would be necessary for such speculations,) would not have +been able to divine the future appearance of a creature, so excellent as +Man; or to guess at his endowments and privileges, or his relation to +the previous animal creation; and just as little able may we be, even if +there is to exist at some time, a creature more excellent and glorious +than man, to divine what kind of creature he will be, and how related to +man. And here, therefore, it would perhaps be best, that we should quit +the subject; and not offer conjectures which we thus acknowledge to have +no value. Perhaps, however, the few brief remarks which we have still to +make, put forwards, as they are, merely as suggestions to be weighed by +others, can not reasonably give offence, or trouble even the most +reverent thinker. + +14. To suppose a higher development of endowments which already exist in +man, is a natural mode of rising to the imagination of a being nobler +than man is; but we shall find that such hypotheses do not lead us to +any satisfactory result. Looking at the first of those features of the +superiority of man over brutes, which we have just pointed out, the +Human Hand, we can imagine this superiority carried further. Indeed, in +the course of human progress, and especially in recent times, and in our +own country, man employs instead of, or in addition to the hand, +innumerable instruments to make nature serve his needs and do his will. +He works by Tools and Machinery, derivative hands, which increase a +hundred-fold the power of the natural hand. Shall we try to ascend to a +New Period, to imagine a New Creature, by supposing this power increased +hundreds and thousands of times more, so that nature should obey man, +and minister to his needs, in an incomparably greater degree than she +now does? We may imagine this carried so far, that all need for manual +labor shall be superseded; and thus, abundant time shall be left to the +creature thus gifted, for developing the intellectual and moral powers +which must be the higher part of its nature. But still, that higher +nature of the creature itself, and not its command over external +material nature, must be the quarter in which we are to find anything +which shall elevate the creature above man, as man is elevated above +brutes. + +15. Or, looking at the second of the features of human superiority, +shall we suppose that the means of Communication of their thoughts to +each other, which exist for the human race, are to be immensely +increased, and that this is to be the leading feature of a New Period? +Already, in addition to the use of the tongue, other means of +communication have vastly multiplied man's original means of carrying on +the intercourse of thought:--writing, employed in epistles, books, +newspapers; roads, horses and posting establishments; ships; railways; +and, as the last and most notable step, made in our time, electric +telegraphs, extending across continents and even oceans. We can imagine +this facility and activity of communication, in which man so +immeasurably exceeds all animals, still further increased, and more +widely extended. But yet so long as what is thus communicated is nothing +greater or better than what is now communicated among men;--such news, +such thoughts, such questions and answers, as now dart along our +roads;--we could hardly think that the creature, whatever wonderful +means of intercourse with its fellow-creatures it might possess, was +elevated above man, so as to be of a higher nature than man is. + +16. Thus, such improved endowments as we have now spoken of, increased +power over materials, and increased means of motion and communication, +arising from improved mechanism, do little, and we may say, nothing, to +satisfy our idea of a more excellent condition than that of man. For +such extensions of man's present powers are consistent with the absence +of all intellectual and moral improvement. Men might be able to dart +from place to place, and even from planet to planet, and from star to +star, on wings, such as we ascribe to angels in our imagination: they +might be able to make the elements obey them at a beck; and yet they +might not be better, nor even wiser, than they are. It is not found +generally, that the improvement of machinery, and of means of +locomotion, among men, produces an improvement in morality, nor even an +improvement in intelligence, except as to particular points. We must +therefore look somewhat further, in order to find possible characters, +which may enable us to imagine a creature more excellent than man. + +17. Among the distinctions which elevate man above brutes, there is one +which we have not mentioned, but which is really one of the most +eminent. We mean, his faculty and habit of forming himself into +Societies, united by laws and language for some common object, the +furtherance of which requires such union. The most general and primary +kind of such societies, is that Civil Society which is bound together by +Law and Government, and which secures to men the Rights of property, +person, family, external peace, and the like. That this kind of society +may be conceived, as taking a more excellent character than it now +possesses, we can easily see: for not only does it often very +imperfectly attain its direct object, the preservation of Rights, but it +becomes the means and source of wrong. Not only does it often fail to +secure peace with strangers, but it acts as if its main object were to +enable men to make wars with strangers. If we were to conceive a +Universal and Perpetual Peace to be established among the nations of the +earth; (for instance by some general agreement for that purpose;) and if +we were to suppose, further, that those nations should employ all their +powers and means in fully unfolding the intellectual and moral +capacities of their members, by early education, constant teaching, and +ready help in all ways; we might then, perhaps, look forwards to a state +of the earth in which it should be inhabited, not indeed by a being +exalted above Man, but by Man exalted above himself as he now is. + +18. That by such combinations of communities of men, even with their +present powers, results may be obtained, which at present appear +impossible, or inconceivable, we may find good reason to believe; +looking at what has already been done, or planned as attainable by such +means, in the promotion of knowledge, and the extension of man's +intellectual empire. The greatest discovery ever made, the discovery, by +Newton, of the laws which regulate the motions of the cosmical system, +has been earned to its present state of completeness, only by the united +efforts of all the most intellectual nations upon earth; in addition to +vast labors of individuals, and of smaller societies, voluntarily +associated for the purpose. Astronomical observatories have been +established in every land; scientific voyages, and expeditions for the +purpose of observation, wherever they could throw light upon the theory, +have been sent forth; costly instruments have been constructed, +achievements of discovery have been rewarded; and all nations have shown +a ready sympathy with every attempt to forward this part of knowledge. +Yet the largest and wisest plans for the extension of human knowledge in +other provinces of science by the like means, have remained hitherto +almost entirely unexecuted, and have been treated as mere dreams. The +exhortations of Francis Bacon to men, to seek, by such means, an +elevation of their intellectual condition, have been assented to in +words; but his plans of a methodical and organized combination of +society for this purpose, it has never been even attempted to realize. +If the nations of the earth were to employ, for the promotion of human +knowledge, a small fraction only of the means, the wealth, the +ingenuity, the energy, the combination, which they have employed in +every age, for the destruction of human life and of human means of +enjoyment; we might soon find that what we hitherto knew, is little +compared with what man has the power of knowing. + +19. But there is another kind of Society, or another object of Society +among men, which in a still more important manner aims at the elevation +of their nature. Man sympathizes with man, not only in his intellectual +aspirations, but in his moral sentiments, in his religious beliefs and +hopes, in his efforts after spiritual life. Society, even Civil Society, +has generally recognized this sympathy, in a greater or less degree; and +has included Morality and Religion, among the objects which it +endeavored to uphold and promote. But any one who has any deep and +comprehensive perception of man's capacities and aspirations, on such +subjects, must feel that what has commonly, or indeed ever, been done by +nations for such a purpose, has been far below that which the full +development of man's moral, religious, and spiritual nature requires. +Can we not conceive a Society among men, which should have for its +purpose, to promote this development, far more than any human society +has yet done?--a Body selected from all nations, or rather, including +all nations, the purpose of which should be to bind men together by a +universal feeling of kindness and mutual regard, to associate them in +the acknowledgment of a common Divine Lawgiver, Governor, and +Father;--to unite them in their efforts to divest themselves of the evil +of their human nature, and to bring themselves nearer and nearer to a +conformity with the Divine Idea; and finally, a Society which should +unite them in the hope of such a union with God that the parts of their +nature which seem to claim immortality, the Mind, the Soul, and the +Spirit, should endure forever in a state of happiness arising from their +exalted and perfected condition? And if we can suppose such a Society; +fully established and fully operative, would not this be a condition, as +far elevated above the ordinary earthly condition of man, as that of man +is elevated above the beasts that perish? + +20. Yet one more question; though we hesitate to mix such suggestions +from analogy, with trains of thought and belief, which have their proper +nutriment from other quarters. We know, even from the evidence of +natural science, that God _has_ interposed in the history of this Earth, +in order to place Man upon it. In that case, there was a clear, and, in +the strongest sense of the term, a _supernatural interposition_ of the +Divine Creative Power. God interposed to place upon the earth, Man, the +social and rational being. God thus directly instituted Human Society; +gave man his privileges and his prospects in such society; placed him +far above the previously existing creation; and endowed him with the +means of an elevation of nature entirely unlike anything which had +previously appeared. Would it then be a violation of analogy, if God +were to interpose again, to institute a Divine Society, such as we have +attempted to describe; to give to its members their privileges; to +assure to them their prospects; to supply to them his aid in pursuing +the objects of such a union with each other; and thus, to draw them, as +they aspire to be drawn, to a spiritual union with Him? + +It would seem that those who believe, as the records of the earth's +history seem to show, that the establishment of Man, and of Human +Society, or of the germ of human society, upon the earth, was an +interposition of Creative Power beyond the ordinary course of nature; +may also readily believe that another supernatural Interposition of +Divine Power might take place, in order to plant upon the earth the Germ +of a more Divine Society; and to introduce a period in which the earth +should be tenanted by a more excellent creature than at present. + +21. But though we may thus prepare ourselves to assent to the +possibility, or even probability, of such a Divine Interposition, +exercised for the purpose of establishing upon earth a Divine Society: +it would be a rash and unauthorized step,--especially taking into +account the vast differences between material and spiritual things,--to +assume that such an Interposition would have any resemblance to the +commencement of a New Period in the earth's history, analogous to the +Periods by which that history has already been marked. What the manner +and the operation of such a Divine Interposition would be, Philosophy +would attempt in vain to conjecture. It is conceivable that such an +event should produce its effect, not at once, by a general and +simultaneous change in the aspect of terrestrial things, but gradually, +by an almost imperceptible progression. It is possible also that there +may be such an Interposition, which is only one step in the Divine +Plan;--a preparation for some other subsequent Interposition, by which +the change in the Earth's inhabitants is to be consummated. Or it is +possible that such a Divine Interposition in the history of man, as we +have hinted at, may be a preparation, not for a new form of terrestrial +life, but for a new form of human life;--not for a new peopling of the +Earth, but for a new existence of Man. These possibilities are so vague +and doubtful, so far as any scientific analogies lead, that it would be +most unwise to attempt to claim for them any value, as points in which +Science supplies support to Religion. Those persons who most deeply feel +the value of religion, and are most strongly convinced of its truths, +will be the most willing to declare, that religious belief is, and ought +to be, independent of any such support, and must be, and may be, firmly +established on its own proper basis. + +22. We find no encouragement, then, for any attempt to obtain, from +Science, by the light of the analogy of the past, any definite view of a +future condition of the Creation. And that this is so, we cannot, for +reasons which have been given, feel any surprise. Yet the reasonings +which we have, in various parts of this Essay, pursued, will not have +been without profit, even in their influence upon our religious +thoughts, if they have left upon our minds these convictions:--That if +the analogy of science proves anything, it proves that the Creator of +man can make a Creator as far superior to Man, as Man, when most +intellectual, moral, religious, and spiritual, is superior to the +brutes:--and again, That Man's Intellect is of a divine, and therefore +of an immortal nature. Those persons who can, on any basis of belief, +combine these two convictions, so as to feel that they have a personal +interest in both of them;--those who have such grounds as Religion, +happily appealed to, can furnish, for hoping that their imperishable +element may, hereafter, be clothed with a new and more glorious apparel +by the hand of its Almighty Maker;--may be well content to acknowledge +that Science and Philosophy could not give them this combined +conviction, in any manner in which it could minister that consolation, +and that trust in the Divine Power and Goodness, which human nature, in +its present condition, requires. + + +THE END. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes. + + +Spelling irregularities where there was no obviously preferred version +were left as is. Variants include: "embedded" and "imbedded;" "a +hypothesis" and "an hypothesis;" "inexhausted" and "unexhausted;" +"volcanos" and "volcanoes." + +Changed "intelligencies" to "intelligences" on page xvi: "may be +rational intelligences." + +Changed "familar" to "familiar" on page 43: "had been familiar." + +Changed "Chalmer's" to "Chalmers'" on page 67: "Chalmers' reasonings." + +Inserted missing period after "live in the sea" on page 78. + +Changed "disapear" to "disappear" on page 82: "at last they disappear." + +Changed "natturally" to "naturally" on page 84: "we may naturally ask." + +Changed "planets" to "plants" on page 91: "plants and animals." + +Changed "intelligenee" to "intelligence" on page 125: "intelligence, +morality, religion." + +Changed "crystaline" to "crystalline" on page 126: "of crystalline +powers." + +Changed "dissimiliar" to "dissimilar" on page 128: "perpetually +dissimilar." + +Changed "words" to "worlds" on page 135: "plurality of worlds." + +Changed "insignificent" to "insignificant" on page 151: "insignificant +and insensible." + +Changed "tales" to "tails" on page 170: "tails of comets." + +Changed "Chambers'" to "Chalmers'" in the footnote on page 175: +"Chalmers' Astron. Disc." + +In the footnote on page 177, "the times of the warning" might be a +typographic error for "the times of the waning," but was not changed. + +Changed "disaprove" to "disprove" on page 185: "prove or disprove." + +Changed "one-thirteenth" to "one-thirtieth" on page 194: "be +one-thirtieth as large." + +Changed "skeletous" to "skeletons" on page 208: "Can they have +skeletons." + +In the footnote from page 217, "Schroeter" appears with the oe-ligature; +elsewhere it does not. The ligature was replaced by the two separate +characters in the footnote. + +Changed "how-however" to "however" in the footnote from page 233: "This, +however." + +Changed "hisorians" to "historians" on page 253: "natural-historians." + +Changed "Meaning" to "meaning" at the beginning of page 261, since it's +not a new sentence. + +Changed "crystalizes" to "crystallizes" and "crystaline" to +"crystalline" on page 265: "Ice crystallizes;" "crystalline aggregation." + +Changed "Artic" to "Arctic" in the footnote from page 265: "Account of +the Arctic Regions." + +Changed "kingdon" to "kingdom" on page 267: "the animal kingdom." + +Changed "splendour" to "splendor" on page 273: "the material splendor." + +Changed "hightest" to "highest" on page 295: "the highest degree." + +Changed "deely" to "deeply" on page 305: "who most deeply feel." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Plurality of Worlds, by +William Whewell and Edward Hitchcock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PLURALITY OF WORLDS *** + +***** This file should be named 36288.txt or 36288.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/2/8/36288/ + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen H. 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